The Mafia's Game
by SpookyGoof
Summary: Where the mafia rules the streets, no one is safe. Where gangs go to war, no one is spared. And when Sejuani, a notorious mafia leader, decides she can take over the country, there won't be a single shadow left unchecked, and no rivals spared. For once, civilians like Quinn won't be just bystanders. They fall as either victims, or rebels. Rated M for violence and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

" _Only the dead have seen the end of war._ "  
― Plato

* * *

 **Chapter I**

"Did you hear what became of him?"

"Yeah."

The cafe was loud and their senses drowned in chatter.

"Is he... is he alive?"

Quinn avoided Shyvana's gaze. Finally she mumbled, "Of course. He wrote to me last week. He says he killed for the first time."

Fiora looked up from her computer screen. "Non!"

"I'm afraid so."

The French woman shook her head in disbelief, then looked back down at her screen.

The eagle that had been perched on Quinn's shoulder rubbed his head against her cheek as if trying to comfort her. She smiled at the gesture, but her gaze remained on the ground. A shadow seemed to pass over all four of them.

"What would we do if we were with him?" Shyvana asked.

"We wouldn't be him, would we now?" Fiora replied without looking up. "We're not insane enough to join. Besides, we don't have ties to Noxus. We'd have to join Demacia."

"He didn't choose to join them though." She said,

"He was losing his mind."

"No he wasn't." Quinn chimed in. "They threatened him, his girlfriend, anyone they thought he was close to."

"They wouldn't have killed no one." Fiora replied.

Shyvana chuckled. "How do you not know? Some time ago, Lux didn't want to join the Demacians. She refused and refused, even though her brother was a trusted member. Then they burnt the words _I'm a Demacian_ on her stomach with acid. She agreed to sign the contract in the midst of her pain."

Fiora seemed to shiver. "Yeah I know that..."

Quinn was becoming uncomfortable. Her gaze darted from the windows to the door, to the crowd of people gathered around the counter and to the other tables around them. She suddenly lost all interest in the coffee that lay in front of her and felt sick. It was as if she could see them coming for her. It hadn't always been like this. Gangs had only recently appeared within the last ten years, and they developed incredibly quickly, from simple gangsters to intelligent, ruthless leaders in the world's most notorious organisations. All of which were blackmailers and killers.

"How come Talon still writes to you?" Fiora asked.

"I don't know. He's not supposed to, but I guess he somehow smuggles a few letters out. Maybe it's his way of letting us know how bad everything is, as if the world didn't already know."

"He still likes you." Shyvana grinned.

"You can't seriously bring this up now."

"Hey, I'm trying to lighten the mood. And he does."

Quinn chuckled. "Yeah well that's too bad."

Fiora sniggerred. "I was there when you rejected him. It was hilarious."

"You were?"

"I overheard."

They chuckled, though only briefly.

"And to think that he's going around murdering people now." Quinn mumbled.

"Don't think about it so much if it upsets you." Said Fiora.

She sighed and glanced at her watch. "You're going to have to excuse us. Valor and I have to go."

"Practice?" Shyvana asked and Quinn nodded.

Quinn was taken aback by the sudden gust of cold wind outside and pulled her hood up over her head. Valor's claws clenched around her hoodie before he pushed off and took flight. He was her eyes, not only in archery practice, but in everyday life. She couldn't afford to stroll casually down the streets anymore, which some would dismiss as paranoia, but no one was alone anymore.

Somewhere, she heard a scream. She called out to Valor to stay close, but she never stopped, never turned around to look. She passed a few alleyways which she never dared to look down on. When she reached the hardware store she caught the eye of two men dressed in all black but she took a sharp turn and avoided them.

She nearly bashed into the doors to the archery range. There, Vayne gave her a smile from behind the counter and held out Quinn's crossbow.

"We got it fixed for you."

Quinn let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

She smiled at the fixed hilt. She inspected the wood and realised that they had polished it as well, and had cleared the rust off the trigger.

"Wow, Vayne, how much would this be?" She asked.

Vayne shook her head. "It's nothing. That one's on us - just this time though."

Quinn shook her hand and thanked her again.

As she headed on to the training grounds she thought about Vayne's evasiveness from the mafia. She had caught their eye a few times, but she seemed to avoid them well. There were rumours that she was part of a pact working against the mafia, though such rumours were dangerous to discuss. Quinn couldn't imagine that there could possibly by any good guys in any of this, though she wouldn't know. She had always been a bystander.

Her training went smoothly, if a little rusty. Valor was pleased with himself and swallowed his treats greedily. On her way out, she froze.

"I made you a generous offer, Vayne. I expect you to think about it before making any rash decisions."

She recognised her almost immediately. Everyone seemed to know the face of the three Freljord gangs, mostly because they were always at each other's throats. Quinn cowered behind the corner to observe what was going on and not get spotted.

Ashe had slipped a piece of paper across the counter to Vayne, but she ignored it.

"We don't do orders."

Ashe was surrounded by two intimidating men, none of which seemed to phase Vayne. She looked the mafia leader in the eye with an unrecognisable expression and said nothing.

One of the men, the bigger of the two with a long red beard stepped forward and slammed his fist on the counter. Vayne didn't flinch.

"Listen to me, lady. We are not prepared to ask twice." He said, his voice loud and booming.

"You're right." Vayne answered. "You're not prepared at all." She went back to polishing a quiver. "That's too bad."

Ashe's white skin seemed to darken with anger, but she kept her calm. She gave a signal to the dark haired man and he nodded. Vayne had been watching them out of the corner of her eye when they walked out and when they were out of sight she put everything down and picked up her phone.

"Ashe this time." She said down the line. "And Tryndamere and Gragas. Yeah they came in person."

Now that they were gone, she seemed to have lost her calm and looked around frantically. She watched the door anxiously and checked her watch. Quinn inched forward and she spotted her.

"Quinn this isn't a good time. You should head on out and-"

The door busted open. Vayne gasped and span round. Her eyes widened at the gang of men standing in the doorway.

Gragas pushed past them and walked up to her again. "We don't ask twice."

And with that, the men split up and seized boxes of the company's belongings, and carried them outside where they would be scattered and burnt. Two had grabbed hold of Vayne before she could lift her crossbow, and no matter how hard she thrashed she couldn't break free. They saw Quinn trying to make a run for it out the back and grabbed her too. Valor had clawed at the eyes of an unsuspecting man and bloodied his face before he too was seized by his tail and held down.

They were tall and strong, and their jackets all had the Avarossan symbol embossed into the black leather on their backs. They spoke in a loud and deep voice, while a small party of a few headed on to look for other employees and customers.

Vayne stole one last glance at her watch and threw her head back in pain as they dragged her outside, her knees scraping across the floor. They made Quinn follow her. Valor's screams and protests were the loudest of them all.

Outside they had poured gasoline on the pile of arrows, bows and banknotes that they had gathered from inside. It was obvious what they had in mind and Vayne just sighed and closed her eyes. Quinn didn't have any ties to the company, but felt her pain.

Then they stopped. They had lit the match and were ready to throw it in when one of them put it out. He mumbled something to another man and they all grinned. They nodded to one another and before she even realised what was happening, Vayne was being dragged forward. She opened her eyes in horror, only to see herself approaching the heap of items.

She yelled and thrashed like a wild animal.

"Break her legs before you throw her on. So she can't run off it."One of the men had said.

Quinn's breathing quickened and her heart raced. She couldn't do anything and was about to watch her get burnt to death. She couldn't see Valor in the crowd of men.

They held Vayne down and grabbed hold of her left leg. One of them had said something which made them all laugh. Quinn gasped when they lifted her leg and jerked her knee backwards. The loud crack made her gag as Vayne's leg was forced to bend in the wrong direction. Her screams were deafening and she had tears running down her face.

The man then grabbed her other leg and was ready to do the same. He grinned and looked her in the eye before puckering his lips and whispering a suggestive line which was inaudible to Quinn. The crowd surrounding him burst out laughing.

He lifted her leg and tightened his grip around her thigh and calf. With a loud bang, he dropped dead right in front of her, his skull pierced, spurting out blood.

Two more men dropped dead before they even knew they were being shot at. As they turned to look for the shooter, their eyes bloodshot and teeth bared, they were ambushed. Three people were closing in on them, firing their assault rifles in a maddening rush to kill. Most didn't have enough time to draw their guns, and if they did they shot blindly and missed. Their assassins moved quickly and took them by surprise, and when they had killed at least six more, the remaining couple fled.

Quinn was no longer being restrained, and she dropped to her knees in shock. Valor limped quickly to her side and nudged her with his beak.

Vayne was in too much pain to talk properly. Her eyes had been glued shut and she couldn't bring herself to mutter a word. Quinn remembered the few men that were still inside the building and looked up to alert the others. They nodded and two of them headed in, while the other helped Vayne.

One more dropped down from the roofs and stopped to ask Quinn if she was okay. She nodded, but when she looked up she flinched. He wore a mask over his face and seemed to be glaring at her menacingly, holding a sniper rifle.

"Don't scare her, Jhin," said the other. Unlike his friend, he carried a shiny assault rifle. He seemed like a young man only in his twenties. His dark skin had small beads of sweat on his forehead, and he had chosen to cover his nose in white war paint. His hair was bleached and styled upwards in a long mohawk.

They didn't really know what to do with Vayne's battered leg. She couldn't walk and could put any weight on it. It was a devastating blow to her.

"Go and see if Lucian and Caitlyn need help." Vayne whimpered.

The boy nodded and ran inside after them, leaving Jhin to tend to her.

Quinn stood up, unsure of what to do. Her jeans were ripped and stained with blood from her grazed knees. She winced slightly at the pain. Valor's feet were sore, but he wasn't injured. They were lucky to not have been the targets of the assault.

She heard gunshots coming from inside and ducked instinctively. Shortly after, Vayne's friends emerged saying the coast was clear.

"What've you done this time?" Lucian asked.

"Refused to sell my archers to her. " She replied through gritted teeth. Her eyes still watered from the pain.

The young boy turned to Quinn. "Are you involved?"

She shook her head.

"Escort her to safety, Ekko." Vayne said.

He nodded. "Come on. We'll get you someplace safe."

She shook her head. "I can take care of myself."

He chuckled. "Ashe will likely be back when she finds out her men were massacred."

"Which is why you should stay here."

He held up his hands in defeat. "Hey dude, I'm just tryna help you."

Quinn felt lightheaded and her stomach could flip upside down any minute. She took deep breaths to steady herself, suddenly aware that she wasn't over the shock from earlier. She turned to Vayne and winced at the pain she must have been in.

"Vayne... will you be ok?"

Vayne nodded. "I got these looking after me, haven't I? Now go."

Quinn nodded and hurried away. Behind her, she caught a snippet of their conversation.

"Now Ashe knows who I am. She'll definitely want my head." Vayne's voice was distant but audible.

"Now's the time to shut this place u-"

Valor took off into the skies and squealed at her from above. Maybe some of the rumours she heard about Vayne were true. Maybe the city wasn't as hopeless. But then again, what's a group of five people against so many gangs.

She didn't hesitate to ring Fiora once a safe distance away. She asked if she could come and pick her up in her car. The French woman understood the graveness in her voice immediately and said she would be down there in a moment. Quinn had almost let out a sigh of relief when she saw her car approaching. She found Shyvana in the passenger seat too. She didn't hesitate to tell them both what had happened.

"I hate this fucking city," said Fiora.

After a short pause, Shyvana whispered,"We should join her group."

Silence fell as they froze.

"What?" Fiora broke the trance.

Shyvana sighed. "I sound like a fucking dumbass but listen... we can't do anything anymore. We can't even walk down the street without getting caught up in something. It's only a matter of time before the whole city gets engulfed. I think we need to do something about it."

"You're right." Replied Fiora. "You do sound like a fucking dumbass."

Shyv rolled her eyes. "Come on, Fi."

"Shyvana as much as I want to think like you," replied Quinn, "we won't last a day trying to fight anyone."

She nodded. "But I swear, Quinn... I don't want to die like this."

They fell quiet again.

Fiora pulled up in front of their block of flats. They headed up to the apartment they shared in silence and ate in silence too. Quinn must have felt fed up and turned the TV on. An imagine of a woman flashed on, showing her and a gang of men detonating a building. She roared as it became a pile of rubble, before they hurried in another, guns in hand behind a headline that read _Winter's Claw Attack on Avarossan Controlled Factories._

Quinn sighed and turned it off again.

"We could be out there," said Shyvana, "putting a stop to all of that."

Quinn turned to face her friend. She could see in her eyes that she was serious.

"Don't listen to her. She's gone mad like Talon." Fiora said.

"I just want to live a life. What we're doing right now is far from it."

Quinn thought for a moment. "And what would we do? Shoot everyone and be done?"

"I didn't mean we'd..."

"I'm sorry, Shyv. I just don't think these wars have an end."

"And they never fucking will if everyone thinks like you two." She grabbed her coat and stormed out.

Quinn and Fiora stood frozen for a few moments, unsure of what to do.

"I'll go after her." Said Fiora.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

Quinn awoke with a gasp. She sat up, her forehead covered in droplets of cold sweat. Her eyes darted around the darkness of her room but found nothing, and her alarm clock read 4 AM. She let out a sigh of relief. In her sleep, she had pictured yesterday all over again, and had felt her own bones crack with Vayne's. She realised that she must have woken the others up when she heard footsteps towards her door.

Fiora poked her head into her room, her eyes swollen and heavy with sleep. "A-Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

She nodded and disappeared back into her own bedroom.

Quinn was reminded yet again that they haven't found Shyvana after she left yesterday. Fiora had even gone as far as driving around town to look for her but no luck. They thought she would come back when night fell but they had been wrong. Now, Quinn felt guilty going back to sleep as if nothing had happened.

Shyvana had gotten angry with them before, but never to this extent. They couldn't picture a reason for her to be so bold in her protests, putting her life at risk alone on the streets at night. Unless she wasn't alone, and neither on the streets. Quinn thought of the places she could have gone. She knew that she used to have ties to the Demacian mafia leader Jarvan, but those had been broken long ago when she distanced herself from him and disappeared under the radar. She might know Vayne, though only vaguely, and Quinn didn't know anyone else that she was close to.

She got up and got dressed and knocked on Fiora's door.

An angry French woman appeared. "What now?"

"Has Shyvana not come back during the night?"

"I haven't heard anything."

"Are you not worried?"

Fiora sighed. "Of course I am. But I looked everywhere for her. Something tells me she's safe somewhere and she'll be back when she's done proving her point."

"I thought she'd be back by now. We need to go back to looking for her."

"Now?"

Quinn nodded and headed on to wake Valor. He gave her a disgruntled peck, but got ready nonetheless. Fiora also seemed to be out the door faster than Quinn had imagined.

They drove around town for a while and checked the places they were familiar with. The streets were deserted and some had no streetlamps and lay in darkness. One turn after another, they somehow expected to see Shyvana huddled in a corner from where they could just pick her up and take her home but it was never the case. They wandered further and further until they were unsure of where they were.

"I really just want to go home. Fuck this." Fiora mumbled.

"We could check one last place. Let's go to Vayne's."

"I've already checked her place yesterday."

Quinn thought for a moment. Shyv had wanted to fight against the mafia, and the only person they knew of that had the courage to do that was Vayne. If Vayne was running a pact against the mafia, then surely she wouldn't base it at her home, and neither at her business. There was obviously another place that they didn't know of.

"Drive there anyway," She said finally, "I may know what we're looking for now."

* * *

"Ashe was there. I don't know what she was trying to do, but it seems like it was unsuccessful. Her men were killed." Udyr was a short, but sturdy man with a thick dark beard. He pointed to the pictures they had taken of the incident,

"How did you get these?" Olaf was tall and ginger haired, and sat twirling around on his chair.

"You really are a dumbass," he responded. "We've got people all over town spying for us. We know what comes in and out of this shit hole. It's the thing that puts us ahead of all the other fuckers. We have photographic evidence of every deal out there."

"Why am I never told this?"

"Because you'd fuck something up somehow."

Olaf lost his temper and swung his fist towards Udyr, who caught it mid-air and dragged him to the ground.

"Cut it out." Sejuani's booming voice overcame their disagreement and they calmed down.

They took their seats at the table again.

"What's up with _her?_ " whispered Olaf.

"She didn't get who she was looking for," replied Volibear.

"She's not still expecting Ashe to show up on her doorstep, is she?"

"I can still fucking hear you." She turned to face them. "I know she's planning something."

"You've been so focused on taking Ashe down. What about everyone else? It's not like you'll have complete control once she's dead." Olaf said.

She sighed but said nothing more.

"We need to strike a deal with Vayne." Said Udyr.

"That bitch is crazy. She wouldn't talk to anyone in the mafia, let alone make a deal with them." Olaf sniggered.

"It's about being clever right now. We need to trick her into something that she can't back down from. She's weak now. If we don't strike, someone else will. If we have her, we'll be stronger than the others."

"We already are stronger! I could take those motherfuckers down with my bare hands any day!" Olaf yelled. Then he turned to Volibear. "Get it? Bear hands?"

He growled and Olaf threw his hands up in defeat.

"I want us to find where Vayne has her headquarters. We need to get right into the heart of her little gang." Sejuani chimed in.

"I have men working on it, but she's better than you think. We've got our hacker trying to look through her files but the bitch knows exactly what she's doing and we haven't found anything on there." Udyr answered.

"I had a guy who was stalking her and trying to find out where she goes but he got shot last week," said Volibear. "We've no doubt it was one of Vayne's men."

"If they can't do it, I'll do it myself." Sejuani said.

"What, you'll march in there and beat Vayne until she likes you?"

"And get oral while I'm at it, shall I?" Sejuani glared at Volibear, though the three men just chuckled. "I'll find out where she's hiding."

They chatted for a while longer, which turned out to be friendly banter in between them. Even Sejuani had ended up smiling a few times, though truly her mind was elsewhere. She studied the pictures. Vayne was more than any of them had thought she would turn out to be. They identified the other men and woman that had been spotted working with Vayne before, but they were just as well hidden as Vayne. Now, Sejuani couldn't put a name on the new face that she saw in the pictures. A young woman who could be seen in the background, being held by Ashe's men.

"Send out an investigation for this one," she pointed at Quinn in the photo, interrupting the others.

Udyr squinted at the picture and nodded. He punched Olaf in the shoulder and walked out.

* * *

"Why are we here?" Fiora asked as she got out the car, staring up at Vayne's apartment. "I'm cold."

"Be quiet. I don't want everyone getting up and looking for us."

They headed up the staircase. Quinn had known Vayne for some time and had somehow ended up at her apartment once before, on an occasion that she didn't really discuss with anyone. That was before the mafia got serious and before Vayne got so mysteriously busy with something else.

She knocked on the door and they waited. There was no answer. After another knock and a couple of minutes they were sure that no one was home. They had seen no lights from ground either. For Quinn, this wasn't a setback. It just seemed to prove her hypothesis.

"Now what? Are you gonna ring Vayne?" Fiora asked.

Quinn thought it was worth a try. "Try Shyvana's cell one last time as well."

They had already tried ringing Shyv but no avail.

Quinn dialled Vayne's number and waited. She didn't answer so she called again. After a short delay, she heard her voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello? Quinn? Are you ok?"

"Hi Vayne. Yea everything is good. Listen, this sounds crazy but have you seen Shyvana?"

There was a long pause on the other end which gave Quinn what she was looking for.

"We're just catching up," said Vayne. "Apparently you two had an argument. I'll drop her off at home in a minute."

"There won't be any need. We'll come get her."

"Quinn, seriously, I can come and..."

"Why?"

There was another long pause.

"What do you mean why?"

"Why won't you let me come pick her up? Where are you?" Quinn asked.

Vayne was growing increasingly irritated. "Fine. Come down to the Times Café. Shyvana is here with us."

Quinn felt victorious and agreed. There was another long pause.

"How's your leg?" she asked finally.

"Hurts like a bitch but I'll live. Hey, I've been meaning to tell you... I think I'm closing the archery range down."

"Alright. Whatever you think is best."

Another pause.

"So I guess I'm on my way then." Said Quinn.

"Alright."

She hung up.

"I found her." She told Fiora.

Fiora looked at Quinn dumbstruck. "Are you fucking kidding me? Est-ce que tu veux mourir ici? What the actual fuck?"

"What?"

"You could have rang your _pute_ Vayne hours ago for hell's sake!"

Quinn sighed. "I know, I just..."

"You didn't want to ring Vayne. I get it."

They chuckled and headed back into the car.

"D'you know where this Times Café is?" asked Quinn.

"Of course. If there's a café out there that I haven't been to then shoot me right now."

They speeded away. Quinn felt as though she will finally confirm the rumours about Vayne. She felt so hopeful, as though Shyvana hadn't been talking nonsense before. Either that, or she was too tired to think straight.

When they reached the café, the lights were on and Quinn could see them through the windows. Standing right in the middle was Shyvana and she seemed to be staring outside worriedly. It felt weird that a café would be kept open at this time.

"There you are!" Vayne said as they walked in. She had crutches and had struggled to stand up.

Shyvana avoided their gaze but smiled.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Shyv, if you don't get your ass in that car right now I'll skin you alive!" Fiora yelled, sparking the curiosity of the others.

Around them were the same people that had saved Vayne and Quinn before. They looked oddly goofy and innocent without their guns and bulletproof vests, though Jhin's mask stayed on.

Shyvana didn't say anything, but Vayne looked at her expectantly.

"Is everything ok?" asked Quinn.

Shyvana cleared her throat. "Guys, I'm gonna do what I said I would. I'm bringing the mafia down."

Fiora rolled her eyes and sighed. "Sure thing, Batman. Now get in the fucking car."

Quinn was alarmed at the determination in Shyvana's eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"Listen, Quinn... I should have told you this by now... In fact I know I should have told you quite some time ago but it's true what they say about me. I do run a pact against the mafia, and dare I say we're doing alright." Vayne said. "But listen, I'm saying this because I trust you, alright? We all want to see the end of the mafia and you telling ohers who I am isn't going to help anyone, understand?"

Both Quinn and Fiora nodded.

"So..." Quinn started, "this is your... headquarters?"

Vayne chuckled. "Of course not. This is Ekko's café. He's owned it for quite some time now."

The young man winked and grinned.

"So... you're one of them now?" Quinn turned to Shyvana.

Everyone chuckled. "No. But I agreed to help out. Shooting people requires a certain degree of training." She answered.

"Well," Fiora chimed in, "if Shyvana's helping out... then I guess I could too."

They stared at her in silence. Her sudden change of character was miraculous.

"What? Are you sure? You were whooping my ass a minute ago."

"Yeah I'm sure. I disagree completely with any of this but... I'll stick with you. If you'll have me."

Vayne nodded. "We need as many people as we can get."

All eyes were on Quinn now. She gulped and her heart suddenly quickened. She hadn't planned for her unveiling to go this far and never wanted to get involved in any of this. Finally she sighed and whispered a faint "Maybe."

"You're either in or out lass. No sitting on the fence." Said Caitlyn.

She was inclined to follow her friends. Without wanting to disappoint anyone, she nodded and they cheered.

"Time for your first job then."Vayne said. She nodded to Lucian and he went behind the counter and came back with a list of names. "I have contacts with these people. They supply us with guns and equipment. I've been meaning to go and pick the stuff up myself but I obviously came across an impediment. Could you?" She looked at Quinn.

Quinn nodded and took the list of names and addresses.

Vayne then dished out some other petty jobs for the Fiora and Shyvana and sent them on their way. It was only 6AM, but she said there was no time to spare.

They only had one car and multiple locations to go to. They agreed it was better and quicker to split up. Quinn waved them off and walked away in search of whoever was on her list. She didn't have Valor with her and felt incredibly vulnerable, but it wasn't too far away.

She stopped outside a pet shop. She looked back at her list and double checked the address. Nope, she was at the right place. It was supposed to be a pet store, but they were closed. Nevertheless, she knocked on the door and hoped that someone would be inside. Shortly, a stout, bald man poked his head out the door and squinted at her, his brows furrowing.

"Who are you?"

"Quinn. I'm here to pick something up for Vay-"

"I don't know a Vayne."

She sighed. "Listen, she gave me this list, you're on the list, so do you have what I want or not?"

The man's eyes widened at her sudden burst of anger, and Quinn herself was surprised. He pulled her inside and showed her the box of rifles that he had.

"Just got em yesterday. Newest they had, they said. Take them, and say hi to Vayne for me."

Quinn picked up the box and headed out.

"Check you weren't followed next time." The man called out to her and she nodded.

No one knew who she was so she doubted they would suspect her to be part of anything. She was a nobody, always stuck to the shadows and never got involved in dirty business. Until now of course.

She caught a jolt of movement in the corner of her eye. When she turned, she saw nothing. Her heart started racing again and she felt her breathing quicken as she hurried away. The autumn morning wasn't too dark, but lay covered in mist and lamented the absence of street lamps. She looked behind her frequently, and was relieved when she didn't spot anyone.

Of course they wouldn't be paid so much if they were to get spotted so easily.

She gasped when she felt someone grab her arm, but her mind went blank with a damp cloth being pressed to her mouth. The smell was putrid, but made her vision go black and legs weaken. She wasn't sure whether she had hit the ground, but when she awoke she was being hauled into the back of a van.

"Did you think we wouldn't find you?"

She looked up to see where the voice had come from, and came face to face with a dense, dark beard. His eyes peered right through her and she felt sick with fear.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

Her senses were filled with the violent shakes of the car and the roar of the engine. Her vision was blurry and her head throbbed in pain as she tried to squint out of the window. She tried to inch forward but gasped when she found that she was tied to the seat and her hands were cuffed.

"Stay still." The man's booming voice brought her to a stop.

The land beyond the windscreen were soon only darkened streets and graffitied buildings, and she had no idea where she was. The city that she knew had seemed to have vanished behind them.

He brought them to a stop and got out, dragging her with him as he undid her bindings. They stood before a skyscraper and she was hurried inside, where she was met by the gazes or armed men and a tattooed receptionist from behind her desk. She was taken into an elevator and brought to the top floor.

"Keep your mouth shut until you're asked to speak." The man's voice had broken the silence.

The floor seemed huge in area and filled with offices of glass walls. She was taken down the central corridor and brought into what must have been a conference room. Along the center of it was a long rectangular table of polished wood surrounded by chairs. The walls seemed dark and she made a note of the steel door at the back of the room.

Sitting right ahead of her was a tall and intimidating figure.

"Sit down." The man had said and she didn't dare to disobey. She pulled a chair out about midway along the table and sat down.

"Thank you, Udyr." The figure had spoken, her voice deep and powerful. The man excused himself.

Quinn was reluctant to look at the figure, but her curiosity got the best of her. Their eyes met and she felt a shiver run down her spine. She met a pair of emotionless, icy eyes staring right through her. She saw a being hidden behind a stone body, unmoving and unforgiving.

"Tell me where she is," she said, her eyes never leaving Quinn.

"I-I don't know what-"

"Tell me where Vayne is hiding."

Quinn's heartbeat quickened. This woman had captured the wrong person for this.

"It's not me you're looking for."

"I know. I asked where Vayne is."

"I don't know."

The woman seemed to take a deep breath to calm her anger. Her nostrils flared and her eyes darkened. Quinn felt ready to run but knew she wouldn't as much as get through the door with her hands still tied.

"I think you have misunderstood me. I don't mean you, nor Vayne, any harm. I want us to work together, to be," she paused, either searching for words or forcing herself to spit out what she meant, "friends."

Quinn's legs were shaking.

"I honestly don't know where Vayne is. I;m not part of her gang, I don't know what she does, who she's with, I-"

"If this is a lie, you will be sorry."

"I swear I'm telling you the truth."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Quinn and I know nothing about Vayne."

"No, I meant how did you get involved in her business? Don't try to lie, we know exactly where you've been."

Quinn tried to think but her mind was clouded by the intimidating woman before her. Her eyes froze her thoughts and her muscles ached with the need to run from her imposing strength.

"It all started at the archery range... she was attacked and I just happened to get caught up in it. We went looking for my friend the next day and-"

"You just ended up running errands for her from meeting her twice? Don't insult my intelligence."

"We were close once. I guess she somehow still trusts me. I saw her frequently at practice, she was no stranger."

The woman squinted but seemed to drop the matter. She realized that Quinn was useless at the moment, but her game was far from over.

"I knew it would have to come to this." She said, "Listen to me closely. I was you to get closer to Vayne, make her trust you completely. I want her to be controlled by me and me alone by the end of this, understand?"

Quinn gulped. "I can't. I don't know what you want me to-"

"Of course you don't understand yet. But you'll do exactly as we say. We're playing a game of manipulation now."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you wouldn't dare to oppose us. You're missing someone, are you not?"

Silence. The woman grinned.

"What do you mea-"

"We have your bird."

Quinn's breathing quickened and her ears rang. The room suddenly appeared to be spinning and she had to lean onto the table to steady herself.

"W-What? How?"

"He's safe, but whether he stays like that is up to you." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. With a few taps, she showed Quinn footage of Valor locked in a metal cage. "Live footage of him, you can be assured. He's alive. For now."

"He doesn't deserve any of this."

"I'm sure he does now." She leaned forward onto the table and rested her weight on her elbows. "So let me ask again. Will you accept my offer of becoming our pawn?"

Quinn was in shock and her jaw seemed frozen. She didn't say anything.

"Let me put it this way." The woman continues, "We're not amateurs and we've done this before. We have endless torture methods, none of which pleasant of course. We have equipment dating back to the Spartans and Persian, and God know they were masters at, let's say, painful executions. Your bird could be pulled and stretched, burnt and frozen, suffocated and-"

"I'll do what you want me to do." Quinn blurted out, her eyes filling with tears.

"Good. I knew you'd be reasonable."She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a small device, the size and shape of a microchip. "A nice piece of technology for you now. Stand."

Quinn didn't dare to disobey.

"Come with me."

They headed towards the back of the room, coming face to face with the steel door. The woman punched in a code and the door opened, revealing a white chamber smelling strongly of bleach. Quinn was made to sit down on what must have been a dentist's chair surrounded by tools of all shapes and sizes.

"Don't worry, I've done this before." The woman said and picked up the scalpel. "I've been told it hurts without anesthetic, but unfortunately I don't have anything for you to bite down on."

Quinn held back her sobs and tried to sit up and focus on something else. The woman bent down and touched her ear with the cold blade.

"Say cheese."

She inserted the blade in her ear and made an incision along the top. Quinn screamed, but the woman held her down with an inhumanly strong grip. Blood oozed out of her ear and trickled down the side of her head. The woman had picked up the chip and forced it into the cut she had made as Quinn squirmed in pain.

She wiped the blood away so she could see the wound again and sewed the cut back up. Quinn's screams had eventually turned to grunts and by the time she was done she felt numb with fear and choked back her tears.

The woman dropped her tools in the sink and picked up a microphone. She spoke into it and Quinn jumped.

"We'll control your every step."

Her deep and booming voice resonated within her skill as she gritted her teeth.

"You'll be able to hear us and we'll be able to hear you and those around you. If we want to control your speech or movements, don't fight it and do as we say. You know you need to."

Quinn just nodded.

"You'll be able to talk to us too. We'll hear you. Even your softest whispers will be heard. After all, sound waves also travel through the skull and there's nothing you can do about that. We'll also be able to track you." She paused and grinned. "My name is Sejuani, and you better pray for us to get along well."

She was led outside and urged to return to Vayne so she wouldn't suspect anything. She was given the parcel she picked up and her phone back. She had been gone for a couple of hours and had a few texts from Shyvana and Fiora but nothing major.

She got a lift back into town from Udyr, who stayed silent throughout the whole way. He took her cuffs off and disappeared with a nod.

Quinn looked around. She finally recognized the area but was a half an hour walk away from Ekko's cafe. She sighed and took a small break around the corner of some building. She sat down, put her parcel down, and rested her head in her arms, wincing at the pain in her head. She let silent sobs rock her body and would have been ready to give up on it all if it wasn't for Valor.

She jumped when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. With a sigh, she checked it to find another text from Shyvana.

 _Where are you?_

 _On my way to Ekko's._

 _About time!_

She didn't have the heart to reply with anything else, so she forced herself to stand and head back. Her ear was throbbing with pain, but she made sure to wipe her tears and the last traces of blood before reaching the cafe, parcel under her arm.

 _"Tell Vayne what was agreed."_ A man's voice said. She turned to look around before realizing it came from the chip.

"Who are you?" she whispered, willing to try to test whether they could indeed hear her.

 _"Volibear here. Do as I say."_

She nodded absentmindedly.

She opened the door to the cafe and caught Ekko's eye behind the till. He smiled and pointed to the kitchen so she made her way through the customers and behind the heavy door.

"Ah. The lass is finally back," said Caitlyn, taking the parcel from her. The chef, a woman with auburn hair who she hadn't yet met, smiled.

The kitchen smelled heavily of pastry and touches of coffee. The woman moved swiftly across from one end to another, cooking several things at once.

"Vayne isn't here. She'll be back soon though."

 _"Ask her where she is."_

"Where is she?"

Caitlyn squinted. "Business. She's got a lot on her shoulders."

 _"You need to speak to her. Urgently."_

"Can I speak to her? It's urgent."

"No. I said she'll be back. Plus you have other things to go and pick up."

By this point, Quinn was just parroting what was being said to her.

"I have some news regarding the Freljord gangs."

Caitlyn seemed to consider it for a moment.

"She's busy with that as we speak."

"She doesn't know this. I've found out what they're planning. She needs to act before it's too late."

"What's this about?"

"They're going to strike. Tonight."

Caitlyn's eyes widened. "How do you know this? How can you be sure?"

"Let me speak to Vayne or this city is turning to rubble."

"You're a dodgy lass. I'll ring Vayne and see what she says but-" She just sighed and walked out.

The chef looked at Quinn out of the corner of her eye before asking, "Are you Vayne's new recruit?"

Quinn nodded.

"It was odd for her to do that. Don't take offense when I say that most of us don't trust you. But we'll get along well, I'm sure. I'm Leona by the way."

"Quinn."

 _"Ask her how many of them there are."_

"So how many of you are there?"

"You've pretty much met all of us by now I think. We've got Ekko out there and me in here. Caitlyn knows people from all over town and over-sees and used to work in the police force."

"What happened?"

"Well she hated being useless I guess. The police are held back from interfering in most things, as you know. She had a friend she worked with, couldn't stand the girl but they made a good team. They both left around the same time, but while she joined us, the other girl just disappeared. Vi I think it was."

Quinn nodded.

"Anyway, then there's Jhin. An odd ball really. I don't know what's up with the mask, but I'm polite enough not to ask. To each their own, you know? He shows up quoting poetry sometimes. He's a nice guy, and man I have never seen a better sniper."

"Is that all?"

Leona chuckled. "Well... There's Diana too. Occasionally. She seems angry and spiteful but... I know her well enough to say she's not. She comes with us sometimes, and it's nice having her here. I don't really know why she doesn't stick around for long." Leona seemed to drop the conversation, returning her attention to her pastries, before remembering something. "This intel you have. How d'you get it?"

Quinn waited for her instructions.

"I have a friend on the inside."

Leona raised her eyebrows. "Really? Is that so? And who might that be?"

"You said it yourself. You don't trust me, so I don't trust you."

She chuckled. "You're smart. But if what you're saying is true, then what are we in for?"

"War. We need to stop the Avarossan and the Frostguard."

"What about the Winter's Claw?"

"That's the funny part. The Avarossan and the Frostguard and working together to take over the city, and the Winter's Claw is oblivious to it as far as we know. With their forces combined, Ashe and Lissandra would shatter a divided city."

Leona nodded. "Sounds serious enough. Tonight? What are we going to do?"

"Infiltrate the Avarossan, grab their intel and sabotage their plans. Jhin can do the cyber work for us."

Leona thought for a moment. "How did you know Jhin was a hacker?"

Her earpiece went silent for a moment before she was given an answer.

"I've already been told."

She nodded, but her glance lingered on Quinn for a moment longer.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

Caitlyn had talked to Vayne and thus Quinn had gotten to tell her what she "knew". They took her seriously and considered the information she gave. Volibear gave her a believable backstory about a childhood friend who was working closely with Ashe, someone whose name she had never heard of before, but who seemed to ring a bell to the others. Her source was stable and her story had gotten through to them.

She felt sick throughout it all and feared for their lives, but didn't have another choice.

Shyvana was excited when she was told that she was allowed to tag along for this one. She and Fiora would watch Jhin's back while he sneaks into the building to access the servers. Quinn was given specific information from Volibear about what needed to be done on the network and she parroted it out.

Meanwhile, the others would split up and find their way around a few points of interest in the Avarossan headquarters. Ekko and Caitlyn would stick together and watch the lower floors while Vayne and Quinn would search Ashe's office on the top floor. Finally, Leona had volunteered to create a diversion, and Diana had agreed to tag along. Leona seemed to have stacks upon stacks of explosives.

When the mission would come to an end, they would have made sure to destroy their stocks of weaponry and bring down the network. Caitlyn had the C4s, and all Jhin had to do was press a few buttons.

"A couple of hours to prepare, then we're on the move," Vayne announced. Then she turned to Quinn, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "Maybe you'll get to see our HQ sooner than you thought. We'll bring back what we find there."

Quinn nodded and there was a chuckle in her ear. She was left alone in the kitchen for a while as the others vanished to prepare equipment. Quinn was promised some tech of her own but had lingered behind.

"What are you doing? Where are you going with this?" she whispered.

 _"Too eager too soon."_

 _"_ You just want Vayne to ruin the Avarossan and Frostguard for you, right?"

 _"I don't see why she didn't do that earlier."_

"Because she's not crazy! Do you understand what you're making us do? We could all die and you'd lose your precious pawns. She's only taking a stand because she thinks she has no choice."

 _"You're spotting a pattern in our gameplan."_

"Quinn! Come on!" Ekko poked his head into the kitchen to check up on her.

She smiled and headed out.

She was handed a 10mm pistol which she already knew how to use. They gave her a bulletproof vest, smoke grenades, and a radio to communicate with.

"Stay with Vayne and you won't die." Leona had said to her. "Maybe." She chuckled and gave her a light nudge.

Before they left, Jhin had said a few things that no one understood until Diana mentioned he was quoting Shakespeare. They headed off in 3 separate cars, all taking a different route to the Avarossan so as to not appear suspicious. Vayne and Quinn had parked quite a while away and made their way towards the back of the building on foot. There were armed men surrounding it so they hid in the shadows and took cover behind a couple of bushes. They waited for the radio signal. With a crackle, Diana's voice was heard.

"Do it, freaks."

The guards seemed to dissipate towards the front of the building where they heard an explosion. Quinn squinted at the blinding light that peered from around the corner but had no time to dwell on it as Vayne sprung forward. They escalated up the building and crashed in through a window. Quinn nearly faceplanted but Vayne seemed not to notice.

The room was empty. Vayne checked the door and it indeed said room 32 as she had planned.

"Ashe's office is round the front, near the top. Here." She handed her a handgun. A suppressor was attached to muffle the noise. "If someone comes round, don't hesitate, you hear me? The last thing we want is for them to trigger the alarm."

Quinn nodded and her heart was pounding. Her ear piece had gone silent, but she knew they were listening.

They peered down the corridor and advanced when they saw no one. Turning the corner, Vayne fired a few quick shots and two guards dropped dead in a pool of blood.

"Gotta be quick before they find the bodies."

They headed up to the elevator and Vayne punched in the floor number.

Meanwhile, Jhin, Shyvana and Fiora had managed to get into the basement of the building. Here they were faced with enormous towers of wires and circuits.

"What the fuck is this?" asked Fiora.

"Their whole network. Impressive isn't it? Whole databases of information, dating back hundreds of years. A true work of art. It's the heart that pumps life into the Avarossan." Said Jhin.

"Fuck it up then."

Jhin nodded and booted up his laptop while Fiora and Shyvana stood guarding the door, guns in hand.

"I could be home right now, drinking warm tea and watching TV," whispered Fiora, "instead I'm risking my life in a cold and dark prison."

"It's a basement."

"It's a work of art." Jhin chimed in.

"If the bad guys come through here I'm telling them to shoot you first," Shyvana said smiling, and Fiora glared at her. "Cheer up. This is fun."

She raised her eyebrows and sighed.

Vayne and Quinn were silent as the elevator buzzed upwards. With a ding, the grand doors opened to reveal a corridor. An armed man span round to meet their gaze before collapsing on the floor, a bullet wedged deep into his skull. Vayne stepped right over him, not once looking at the crimson blood that spurted out onto the carpet. She gestured for Quinn to follow her.

They hurried to the front of the building, whizzing past the other rooms. The building seemed oddly quiet, but they didn't have time to question it. Maybe they were all down trying to deal with the chaos Leona and Diana were causing.

They reached a steel door and breathed in. This was it.

Vayne counted down from 3 and they burst into the room. No one was here. They looked everywhere - they searched Ashe's desk, her drawers, the endless shelves upon the walls and found nothing to do with the Frostguard.

"Where is she hiding this shit?"

Quinn felt sick with guilt. She knew they wouldn't find anything.

"Nevermind I think I got something."

Quinn's breathing hitched and she felt light headed. "What?"

 _"What?!"_ She heard within her ear. " _Sejuani, come hear thi-"_ The voices trailed off as they seemed to be distancing from the microphone.

"This isn't the Frostguard seal, though," Vayne said.

"Vayne! Vayne come in! Vayne!"

Vayne grabbed her radio. "What is it?"

"Someone's here, we need to bail. Get yo ass out NOW!" Ekko's voice was desperate and Vayne didn't waste time.

"Grab anything and move." She said as she took the stack of papers she was looking at and dashed for the door.

They ran back down the corridor. A couple of guards rushed in from the elevator, their guns pointed up towards them, but Vayne and Quinn had anticipated their arrival and took the first shots. They never even stepped out of the elevator.

The alarm had gone off and the whole building rang with the sounds of a siren.

"Forget the elevator. More will come. This way."

They headed for the windows and Vayne smashed one of them with her free arm. She gestured towards her backpack and Quinn got out a climbing rope and a hook. They fixed the hook and place and attached the rope. It didn't reach anywhere near the ground, stopping about twenty meters from the ground.

"That's no use-" Quinn began but was interrupted as Vayne shoved the papers in her arms and pushed towards the window.

"Get out goddammit!"

 _"Quinn listen to me."_ Quinn froze at the sound of Sejuani's voice. _"Don't leave the building. Whatever you do, stay inside the fucking building."_

"Fucking move or we'll both get killed!" Vayne screamed.

 _"Don't. Leave."_

"Vayne, we can't leave."

Vayne's eyes widened in disbelief. She looked as though she would go mad. "What the fuck are you saying?! Get the fuck out the bloody window or-"

"Trust me. Please."

Vayne sighed and nodded. "What the fuck do you want us to do?"

"Tell everyone to stay inside."

"What? Why?"

"Please."

She got her radio out and told everyone her message. After being called crazy, a fool, a slut, and a fucking atrocity when it came to logical thinking, the others agreed to stay inside. They took cover wherever they could and got ready to defend themselves as best they could. Neither Ekko nor Cait was responding despite the numerous attempts to reach them.

Jhin hadn't stopped working on the network and had transferred several pieces of data over. He was almost ready to destroy it when there was a loud bang and the door to the basement swung open. Several armed men stood in the door but with a scream, Shyvana and Fiora fired their assault rifles and they were soon just a pile of bodies, their blood slowly merging together.

Jhin smiled. "Beautiful," he said, before returning to work.

They decided to barricade the door, sure that more men would show up.

 _"Quinn, what's in those papers?"_ Sejuani had asked.

Quinn's hands were shaking as she started shuffling through the folders they stole.

"The fuck are you doing?" Vayne asked.

"Where's that letter you said you-"

"Why?"

"I need to know what it is?"

"Now?"

"Yeah."

Vayne sighed. "I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you."

She handed her the letter. Imprinted across the front of the envelope was the Demacian seal.

"It's a letter from Demacia." She said.

She looked through it, but when she had opened it, a troop of men rushed out of the elevator, kicking the bodies aside. Quinn and Vayne had taken cover behind an overturned desk so they had the element of surprise when they shot at them as best they could. After cowering behind the desk and firing some more, silence filled the corridors once more.

Quinn returned to the letter.

"It's a contract. It, err, declares their... allegiance."

The voices in her ear were all talking at once and she couldn't make out anything being said.

"So you were right," Vayne said. "Only it's not the Frostguard and they weren't planning to take over the city anytime soon. Wonderful." Vayne threw her head back and sighed.

The building shook. Looking outside, smoke and fire from several explosions started rising. Vayne and Quinn both feared for Diana and Leona and only prayed that they could make it out in time. Unlike the rest of them, they were outside getting caught in the midst of the bombing.

"You're smart." Vayne said.

"Why?"

"You told us to stay inside." She pointed out the window. "They're bombing everything out there. They'd have thought we would flee at the first sign of danger. But there's no way they would bomb their HQ."

Quinn nodded. "Huh. I guess I am quite smart."

 _"You're welcome."_ She heard Sejuani's voice.

Suddenly, they spotted a helicopter getting awfully close to the smashed window from before. With a squint, Quinn could just about make out Leona's form at the side door, waving frantically at them. There was no one else in there with her, other than the pilot, who looked an awful lot like Diana.

They ran to the window.

"Look at us! We hijacked a fucking helicopter! Talk about some next level shit."

"Get us out of here then!"

Leona through the rope ladder through the window.

"Jump on then. They're out of bombs. For now."

They grabbed hold of the ladder and vaulted out. Slowly, they climbed their way into the helicopter and headed on to get Ekko and Cait. They flew around the perimeter of the lower floors looking for them and trying to contact them on radio. More airplanes were approaching and a helicopter was coming their way.

"Grab something!" Leona yelled as she grabbed one of the machine guns left in the helicopter and Vayne took the other. They tried to protect themselves against the other aircraft, but their firing wasn't as effective as they thought it would be.

"We can't get down there obviously. I don't know what the fuck is happening. The Avarossan never had aircraft before." Leona said.

"It's Demacia. They're working together now." Vayne said.

"Jesus. Not Frostguard?"

Vayne shook her head and Leona nodded almost knowingly.

Diana and Quinn kept looking through the windows. In a sudden fit of desperation, Quinn had resorted to yelling their names in the hopes that they will somehow hear her.

"I see something. I'm going lower. Hold on." Diana yelled to the rest of them heading in line with a lower window.

A lone figure smashed the window and threw his climbing rope down before seeing Diana in the helicopter. He waved frantically with one arm and they threw him the ladder to which he shook his head.

"I can't climb it! I've only got one arm!"

"Just hold on to it!" Yelled Diana. "Leona get here. Haul the ladder up for Ekko."

He grabbed on and was slowly lifted up.

"Hurry the fuck up there's more coming," Vayne said. She had shot down a plane and it crashed into a fiery explosion.

"Where's Cait?" asked Leona.

Ekko shook his head. "She didn't make it."

No one said anymore.

They held the helicopter above the entrance into the basement and sent a message for the others to come on out. Slowly, the emerged from a trapdoor in the ground and climbed onto the ladder before they all disappeared back to safety.

"That was amazing we should do that more often!" Yelled Shyvana.

Meanwhile, Fiora was looking rather sick. "I think I need a new pair of pants."

Quinn nudged them and they were quiet, noticing the sombre looks of everyone else in the plane and Cait's absence.

They left the helicopter outside of town and made their way to their cars and to the headquarters from there. On the way back, Quinn couldn't imagine why she trusted Sejuani so much. She could have planned her death for all she knew and she did as she was told anyway. Come to think of it, goodness knows what would have happened to Valor if she hadn't. Also, she couldn't tell whether Sejuani had known about the secret pact with Demacia or not.

Their mission, to some extent, failed. Ekko and Cait didn't destroy the weaponry and they found that Cait was now dead. When the alarm sounded, troops invaded the lower levels first and they hadn't anticipated Demacian forces to aid them. Tens of hand grenades later, their radios were busted, Ekko covered in burns and peeling skin and his arm blown out of its socket. Cait had been blown to pieces, of which Ekko could not talk about without crying. They did, somehow, fight some of them off before that, and Ekko fled and managed to get out alive.

Jhin however, did destroy the network and rescue some important information, which meant that the Avarossan's data and means of communicating were all lost.

Quinn and Vayne were silent on the way back. Quinn knew she was guilty of all this and felt sick. Vayne however, made it clear that she didn't blame Quinn.

"It wasn't your fault. You were right about their plans and we found out some crucial intel. You couldn't have known what would happen.

In her voice, Quinn realized that Vayne didn't believe what she was saying. They had agreed to the mission because they thought it was urgent, that the city would truly come down that night in the midst of war. It wouldn't have and if anything, they were the ones that had now started the war.

The HQ seemed to be situated under Vayne's old archery range, which now therefore lay hidden under an abandoned building since she closed it down. It wasn't much but it was where they stored all of their resources and developed their new tech. Most importantly, the Wintersclaw now had exact coordinates for its location, thanks to Quinn's tracking device.

She excused herself for a moment and went outside.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she whispered.

 _"I saved your sorry ass."_

"How did you know?"

 _"We're not clueless. We picked up the helicopters on our radars."_

"Did you know this would happen?"

" _Fuck no. All I wanted you to do was render the Avarossan useless. It turns out you've found more than I expected you to find. I never expected those bastards to get any help from anyone."_

"Thanks for helping us. Well... kind of... not really." There was a long pause. "You fucking killed Cait."

 _"I didn't kill anyone and you know it."_

She was right. It was Quinn who started the operation. But could doing what she is told count as her fault?

Sejuani sighed. _"The situation's more serious than we thought, I'll admit that much."_ Her voice seemed tired but maintained its power and determination. As much as Quinn hated this woman, she found herself admiring her strength and intelligence. _"I think it's time for me to offer Vayne a deal."_

"What do I do?"

 _"Exactly as I say."_

"You talking to yourself?"

Quinn jumped and came face to face with Leona.

"Sorry. I'm not used to... you know... killing people. I don't know what to do with myself anymore."

Leona chuckled. "We all get that at the start. It's human nature to want to protect people rather than hurt them. But you can talk to me about anything that bothers you. You can trust me."

"But you've said that you guys don't trust _me._ "

"Stop living in the past. You're practically part of the family now."

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"Don't let us down." She said as she disappeared back inside.

 _"Be careful where you talk next time."_

"Sorry."

There was another long pause before Sejuani spoke again.

 _"Get some sleep, Quinn."_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

There was no proper funeral. No way for them to say goodbye.

They lit a few candles and crowded around a photo of her in the kitchen of Ekko's cafe. Jhin had brought flowers and laid them out next to her framed photograph. He muttered something and walked back to stand with the others. The room was dimly lit, but their gazes focused solely on the ground. There were a few sobs from Ekko which were unexpected, but no one blamed him. He had been there to see it all.

Quinn mourned the loss too. She hadn't known Cait almost at all but sympathized with the others. She had at first thought Cait to be cold and unfriendly but understood how much she was loved. And how much she will be missed.

Even Diana was there, which shocked a few of them since she rarely showed up at all. Quinn couldn't figure whether she was truly there to mourn Cait or to comfort Leona, but didn't dwell on it.

Most of all she felt the guilt that lay heavily on her shoulders.

"D-Did you... phone-" Ekko was trying to speak, but his chest was rocked by his silent sobs.

Vayne cut him off with a nod. "I called her this morning. She knows."

"Did she say she would come at all?" asked Leona.

"No. She thanked me for calling but said nothing more."

"I wouldn't have expected Vi to show up anyway," Diana said and Leona glared at her.

The silence that followed was deafening. One of the candles burnt out and the room got progressively darker but no one could bring themselves to head out. It seemed that if they could just stay for one more minute, Cait would burst in through the door, alive and well, laughing and talking again.

Unfortunately, she never did, and they had to leave sooner or later.

Jhin was the first to leave and Diana followed with Leona. Shyvana and Fiora threw their arms around Quinn and they headed out too. Once outside, they squinted at the sudden burst of light. They headed down the street to their car and planned to head back home for a while before reporting back here.

Shyvana whispered, "Who's Vi again?"

Fiora shrugged.

"She used to be Cait's partner." Said Quinn.

"Cait was gay?"

"No, you dumbass. As in a fellow police officer you work with."

"Ah. She used to be in the police?"

"Apparently so. Then she and Vi went their separate ways."

"Where's Vi now?"

"I don't know, I'm not a stalker."

Shyvana and Fiora sat in the front while Quinn went in the back. After a few attempts, Fiora managed to get the car to start and swore under her breath at the engine's splutters.

"Quinn, is Valor ok? You've left him alone for a while now," said Shyvana.

 _"Make up an excuse."_ Volibear's voice was back.

"He's with a friend actually."

"Really? Who?"

Quinn bit her lip as her brain searched for a name. "Kayle."

"Oh. I thought Kayle like... fled the country?"

"She came back for... a friend. She's staying for a while and agreed to take care of Valor."

"You two better not be fucking again." Fiora chimed in.

Quinn went bright red. "No."

The rest of the trip was silent and Quinn felt like she had messed up yet again. But the two of them couldn't possibly suspect anything.

 _"Tell them to drop you off here. Now."_ Volibear said.

Quinn looked out the window. They were nearing the now abandoned archery range.

"Guys, can I get out here?"

"Oh come on, we didn't mean to tease you before."

"No, no. I just need to get something. Don't wait for me either."

Fiora pulled up next to the abandoned building. Quinn waved goodbye as they drove away

" _I need you to get into the HQ and get the folders you found yesterday. Copy them and bring the originals to us."_

Quinn sighed. Vayne had given each of them a key to get inside so she headed on in. She forced the furniture around until she found the trap door, but made sure to leave everything as it was so they wouldn't suspect she was here. She headed down the stairwell and descended down into a dark basement. She found the switch on the wall and squinted at the sudden flicker of lights.

The place was bigger than she would have expected before coming here for the first time. They had dug out a whole underground storeroom for all of their weapons and ammo. They had state of the art computers and maps of the whole city. They were attempting to monitor the gangs closely but lacked intel from the inside.

She ruffled through the papers on the desk and picked up the letter they found yesterday. She read it one more time before placing it in the scanner and waiting for the machine to do its job. The mechanisms churned away, and due to the noise, she knew that the printer had seen better days. She left the copies in the place where she had found the originals and headed out with the genuine papers in her hands.

A sense of paranoia hit her. It was as if Vayne was waiting around the next corner and would call her out on her bullshit. She wasn't, and as far as Quinn knew, her whole team was oblivious to what she was truly doing to them.

" _Head down the street. We'll have someone come pick you up."_

"Why can't they just take the letter and go?"

 _"Sejuani wanted to speak to you face to face."_

Quinn gulped.

She had hoped to have more confirmation of whether Valor was alive and well, but she wasn't sure whether she dreaded seeing that woman again or not. Her neverending power intimidated Quinn and she couldn't be sure of her true intentions, but somehow she wanted to trust her, as though she hoped there was a side to her that wasn't inherently evil. Either way, she hadn't expected to see her again so soon.

Quinn headed onwards and once she turned the corner she saw a man waiting in a car. He had ginger hair and a long beard that he was fiddling with. He unlocked the passenger door when he saw her approach and nodded as a form of hello.

They drove in silence though Quinn thought she could faintly hear him hum. Soon, she knew they were onto Winter's Claw territory and pulled up in front of their headquarters. The building was just as impressive as she remembered it and she was ushered inside. The woman at the desk gave her a long weird look and Quinn couldn't figure out whether it was the same woman as last time. She was taken to the elevator and as her stomach dropped from the upwards motion, she felt dizzy and sick with fear.

She was brought to the same conference room in which she had been in before and as the door opened, she felt light-headed at the sight of the strong figure which was Sejuani. Her breathing quickened remembering the last time she was here and the pain of having her ear mutilated.

"Sit down." She said to Quinn before nodding towards the man who promptly left.

Sejuani was sitting at the head of the long rectangular table and she had pulled a seat out to her left where she expected Quinn to follow. She did as she was told.

"Let me see it," the woman said and Quinn looked at her bewildered for a moment. "The letter."

"Oh! Yes..." Quinn reached into her pocket and pulled out the scrunched up piece of paper.

Sejuani unfolded it patiently and read through it. She smiled - a gesture which made Quinn feel uneasy, but her eyes lingered on the toothy grin.

"It has the Demacian seal on it. That's perfect."

Quinn didn't say anything. She didn't know what she meant.

Sejuani must have noticed her confused look. "We can forge it now that we have it. Or replicate something close enough that Ashe wouldn't question. I'll give it to Udyr to look at - something tells me there are some microchips in there to make it genuine but we'll crack it. And that's where your next job is going to come in."

Quinn met her eyes. She had never seen something like the look in Sejuani's eyes. She couldn't tell what was behind the blue veil that stared back at her and told herself that it was nothing good.

"How is Valor?" she worked up the courage to ask.

Sejuani chuckled. An unusual sound that Quinn couldn't imagine coming from her.

"He's fine. But as you know, that's all up to you."

She reached across the table and pulled her laptop closer to her. "I'm going to run through the plan with you and I need you to pay attention. It's for Valor's sake, of course."

At that moment, Quinn wanted to hate her. She wanted to see herself place her hands around her neck and squeeze until she could feel the air drain out of her, but she couldn't bring herself to as much as picture it. The woman before her seemed to have grabbed hold of her thoughts and twisted them to her approval.

She looked at her computer screen and saw footage of Valor. He was in a large enough cage and pecking at seeds, unharmed, as he briefly glanced over the camera, but thought nothing of it. Quinn didn't know how to feel. She was relieved that he was fine but didn't know what would come next.

"Just in case you didn't take my word for it. He is fine."

Quinn nodded.

Then Sejuani showed her a break down of what she had in mind, while Udyr came in to take the seal from the letter away.

"You will need to make sure that the fake message from Demacia we make gets into the hands of the Avarossan."

"So you're turning them against Demacia? Will that work?"

"No. Ashe wouldn't believe it and she would know something is up. The message, which you will pretend to have intercepted, will outline Demacian plans to take down the black market which had been supplying groups of rebels, Vayne included. They will request heavy artillery which only the Avarossan currently have to take down points of interest where stockpiles are kept. Ashe would gladly comply and send her artillery to Demacia. The Demacians would not be expecting it so the machinery will be lightly guarded. Hijack them, nicely and easily, and use them to target these specific points."

Sejuani showed Quinn a model of Demacian territory and the spots that they should target, one of them obviously being their headquarters.

"How do I get that letter to the Avarossan?"

"Now that their systems are down the Avarossan have never relied more on mail than ever before. They have a courier come in every morning to bring them bank statements, reports, all sorts. All you have to do is slide the letter in his bag."

"I don't see how this would work as smoothly as you say."

"Don't overthink it. Demacia won't shoot on sight when they see the Avarossan insignia on the artillery. They won't see who you are - you'll be cozy inside the tanks. They'll be confused, probably radio Ashe to ask what's going on, but before they can act you would have blown up half of their world already, assuming you all split up the way I say and operate the tanks correctly."

"But it's a suicide mission. We'll destroy their buildings, sure, but what about their soldiers?"

"Point of interest number one. Military barracks. During the day, from 10am to 1pm, most if not all Demacian soldiers meet for briefings and training with their generals. Jarvan won't be there, true, but his men will be. The few guards that would be left outside shouldn't pose a problem to a speedy escape."

"What about Jarvan?"

"Point of interest number two. The headquarters. Jarvan operates there most of the time. When you bring the whole thing down, chances are he and the rest of his people working there will go down with it."

"So this is a terrorist attack."

"Whatever you wanna call it."

"This seems too easy. If it was this easy why haven't you done this already?"

"We didn't know there were such things as allies in any of this. And plus, we wouldn't have had this seal, would we? And since the Avarossan computer systems are now down they are likely to believe the letter they stumble upon. You know, since they're desperate to get their communications up and running again."

Quinn nodded.

"I'll have the plan printed."

Sejuani stood up and left the room, locking her computer before leaving. At the door, she turned to face Quinn and their eyes locked for a few moments. It seemed as though she wanted to say something but changed her mind and disappeared.

Quinn let out a sigh of relief. It was impossible to believe how she could have gotten herself in this situation, the same way it was impossible to believe that she will get out alive. There was a voice at the back of her mind telling her to try and get into Sejuani's laptop, but she didn't dare inch any closer towards it. It was as if the leader's aura encompassed the machine and she was too afraid to trespass it. Maybe it was that thought alone that led her to press one of the keys.

The screen lit up and asked for the password. She would never guess it, so she shifted her attention away from the computer.

She got up and walked around the room. There was no carpet and she could nearly slide across the dark and polished wood. The Wintersclaw's symbol hung on the walls as beautifully embroidered flags and made the whole room seem like a tribal clan's gathering. She stopped right outside the steel door and felt her blood drain from her face. Awful memories returned to her and she shivered before walking on.

She nearly jumped when the door opened again and Sejuani walked back in. She froze as the leader walked towards her.

"Here they are."

She handed several pieces of paper stapled together.

"Follow these and you'll get out just fine," she added.

"Thanks."

"So for the love of God. Follow these."

Quinn looked up at Sejuani and nodded. She didn't mean to but her eyes lingered on hers for a moment too long so she cast her glance back to the papers.

"You can talk to us if you have any questions." It seemed as though Sejuani's voice had softened. "Olaf will take you back into the city."

She headed out and the same ginger man from before stood there waiting for her. He led her to his car and dropped her off further into the centre. She was only a few minutes away from Ekko's cafe and she wondered if she should go and tell Vayne about the plan now or let her calm down for a bit and talk later. She figured it would be insensitive to come up with another suicide mission while they were still in mourning, so she just sat down in a cafe nearby to read through the papers.

She had already thought about how she would tell Vayne about it. She would show her the papers and pretend she had been up all night putting the plan together, and hope that she didn't suspect anything.

Looking through the plan, it seemed as though Sejuani had spent a lot of time devising it. She gave specific information, including how to fire and operate the tanks.

It seemed like there were several points that they needed to destroy and Quinn had already started planning out how they will take them. Leona and Diana would take one tank and destroy the barracks. Jhin and Ekko would take the HQ, while Shyvana and Fiora would destroy the warehouses. She figured that she and Vayne could then deal with the last checkpoint marked on her map - something which Sejuani had labelled the "basement".

She flicked over to the next page and read through the additional notes. She hopes to find more on what the basement was and sure enough, she found a whole section dedicated to it.

"The Basement - A collection of intel that Demacia plans to use against the other gangs. Before destroying it, ensure that someone goes inside to retrieve the hard disks from the computers. To do this, get there before the first attack had been carried out to ensure that enough time is permitted to safely get away before the panic ensues."

Quinn had already decided that she would be the one doing that, but couldn't help but wonder why Sejuani had chosen to label it the basement when the building was not actually a basement. She was told that she shouldn't hesitate to ask questions, so making sure that no one else was in earshot, she tried to make contact with whoever was listening to her now.

"Hello?"

 _"You speaking to us?"_ Volibear's voice arose, his speech slightly slurred.

"Yeah. Why is this called the basement?"

 _"Sejuani chose to call it that. Most gangs have one, and they all call it different things. Always something to do with the underground though."_ He chuckled. _"Guess that's where they store the vodka."_ He burst out laughing.

 _"Volibear, you drunk on the job again? Fuck off, let me speak to her."_ Sejuani's voice boomed.

 _"Ay, Sej, leave me alone I didn't say nuthin."_

" _Get out of the way."_ There was some shuffling. " _You'll find this in your notes too, but just so I can make myself clear - stay on the ground level of that building. That's where all the computers are. There's no need to go anywhere else."_

"You named it the basement but don't want me to go in the basement?"

 _"You heard me. Stop asking stupid questions and get this plan in going."_

Quinn grabbed the papers and decided it was time to head to talk with the others. In her mind, she was just set on seeing this plan through, all morals and ethics set aside. Though the thought of the mysterious "basement" sent a shiver down her spine, there was nothing she could worry about right now other than just getting Valor back.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

* * *

Quinn was expecting to find everyone at the cafe again so she headed down the streets towards it. Suddenly, the dangers of the city disappeared in her mind as she looked straight ahead. It somehow felt that she needn't be afraid of the gangs anymore. It felt as though she was a part of them now and she hated herself for it. The real question was whether she could bring herself to hate Sejuani for it too.

She headed on through the door. Hearing the small bell sound as she opened it, Ekko looked up from behind the counter and smiled weakly. He had decided to keep his cafe open today despite the loss as to not appear somehow suspicious.

He nodded towards the kitchen door and Quinn thanked him. She headed through and was overwhelmed with the smell of cinnamon.

"Cinnamon buns today," Leona said, noticing her come in. "Help yourself to some."

Quinn thanked her but didn't feel in the mood for anything to eat, and neither did anyone around her.

She found Vayne sitting down in the corner and dared to interrupt her.

"Vayne?"

She looked up at her. "You alright?"

"The real question is are you?" Quinn replied.

"I will be." She sighed. "We need to move on with our next plans but I don't know what to do anymore. I just feel like I need to end this war soon, for Cait's sake."

Quinn nodded and felt like this was an opportunity to squeeze her plans in.

"I have something you might want to use," she said.

Vayne seemed skeptical, fully aware of how their last mission went but listened anyway.

"We need someone to get this message to the Avarossan. When they send their tanks to Demacia, we hijack them and focus on these key points in their base. It's a big operation but it would bring down Demacia forever. I was thinking that we can split up this way and-"

"How the fuck did you come up with all of that just now?" Vayne asked.

"I've been working on this all night."

Vayne nodded. "Go on."

Quinn told her the whole plan and Vayne considered it for a moment.

"I'm gonna need some time to think this over Quinn. I hope you understand."

Quinn did. "I know it's a lot."

"Thank you though."

Throughout their conversation, Leona had been watching them out of the corner of her eye. She didn't want to say anything yet, but she texted Diana, making sure that no one could see her do so.

"I'll call you when we're ready to get moving," Vayne said to Quinn, and she saw herself out.

Quinn was left alone with Leona.

"You've become quite a valuable asset," she said.

"Me? Not really, I-"

"You've got plenty of new ideas. We didn't think of doing anything of the sort before. It's weird though, isn't it?" she paused and Quinn said nothing. "It's weird. You were so skeptical about joining and yet here you are, coming up with plan after plan. It's all seemingly going so smooth."

Quinn gulped, suddenly uneasy.

Leona chuckled. "Don't look so scared, they're all compliments! If anything all I can do is thank you."

Quinn smiled too. "I'm just trying to help."

Leona looked up from her cinnamon and their gazes met. Her expression was suddenly grave. "We all are, Quinn."

The atmosphere in the room became heavy and Quinn excused herself. She headed out and found a quiet place around the corner where she could talk to the Winter's Claw.

"Did you hear that?" she whispered.

 _"Yeah?"_ Udyr responded.

"Should I be worried?"

 _"Of what?"_

Quinn sighed. "She may be onto me."

 _"How do you know? She sounded genuine."_

"You didn't see her. I felt as though she'd lunge at me and kill me any moment."

 _"Paranoia. I'll pass it on to Sejuani nevertheless. She's busy at the moment."_

"Surely you can grab hold of her now?"

 _"Not possible. Important business."_

Quinn rolled her eyes. She suddenly felt more invested in the whole business and was scared to see it fail.

She sat down with her back against a building, not paying any attention to the coldness of the pavement. She rested her head against the wall too and stared into space aimlessly. She let her mind wander to the possibility of the war ending, of them successfully destroying the gangs and assassinating the mafia leaders, of a city finally at peace where she would have no fear of traipsing alone.

Her thoughts came to a halt. Sejuani was a mafia leader too. She would have to die at some point like the others. She didn't for one moment doubt that Vayne wouldn't stop until _all_ the gangs were gone, completely eradicated. Quinn hauled her thoughts away from her. The amount of strength it took for that woman to get where she is would be unimaginable and Quinn knew it. She felt useless, hopeless, at the mercy of a monster.

When she was young, she was close to her brother. She remembered the times when her parents were still alive and they lived in the suburbs in a modest house. They would sneak out and wander to the edges of the city and run through the fields. They would traipse into the forest and climb to the top of the trees and pretend to be faithful watchmen.

Then the terrors began.

It was from the top of one of these trees that they saw smoke.

They rushed down and hurried back home only to see it go up in flames. Their parents were nowhere to be found. They yelled for them again and again but no one answered from the raging flames.

It was then that Caleb, her brother, nudged her hurriedly. He whispered for her to run. She didn't know why and didn't want to leave him until he shoved her away. The sight of the men approaching sent her into a sprint as Caleb rushed into the house.

Quinn fled into the forest while her brother vanished into the flames, for some reason convinced that he could save his parents. To this day Quinn doesn't know what she should have done instead. She was too young and didn't understand. If only she knew if Caleb burnt alive, or was killed by the men that followed.

Her family was killed by the mafia, and here she was, obeying their commands.

* * *

Sejuani had climbed at the stairs and onto the ground floor of her building. She greeted the guards and the woman behind the counter at the reception before heading up in the elevator. Her gaze fell blindly on the bleak walls before her until the elevator dinged and the doors opened. She cleared her mind and stepped out, heading straight into the conference room. As she paced, she scanned her surroundings, her head unmoving while her eyes slowly moved about the corridor.

She pushed the door open and nodded to the two men and bear already sitting down. She sat down at the head of the table and brought her hands together onto it.

"I've been thinking," she started, "was it really a good idea?"

"Think about it this way - by tonight, the whole of Demacia would have crumbled," Volibear replied.

"That's not what I meant." Sejuani lowered her gaze momentarily as though searching for the right words to continue with. "I mean was it a good idea to put all of their lives in danger for this?"

Volibear scoffed. "You've never thought about these things before."

"Wait, whose lives?" Olaf asked.

They all glared at him until he muttered a hushed "oh" of realization.

"Sejuani, we all do what we have to do in this war, and if some lives are lost then they're collateral damage. Isn't that what you used to say?" Udyr continued.

Her gaze was unyielding and she kept her straight posture despite her hurried and unorganized thoughts. Keeping a strong outlook was almost second nature to her, but it wasn't often that she had to fight to keep it.

"I don't know what's gotten into you. Since when do you doubt yourself?" Volibear asked.

"I don't doubt myself," Sejuani's voice blared. "Does anyone at this table think I'm not serious about this?"

Silence as they all watched her, hints of fear at her sudden outburst.

She stood up, her palms pressed onto the table. "I'm going to win this war any way I can, and I sure as hell hope none of you forgot that." She took a deep breath and straightened up. After a brief pause, she gathered her thoughts and made one last closing statement, "I have some work to finish up this afternoon. Get on the radio with Quinn and guide her through the operation when it starts."

They nodded as she turned and left the room.

Sejuani headed down and stepped outside. She didn't seem to notice the wind in her jacket as she crossed the street towards her warehouse - a wide and sturdy building. She punched a code in and the door opened up. From here, she picked up a couple grenades, a shotgun, and an army knife, slotting the grenades and knife into holsters on her belt and strapping the gun onto her back.

* * *

Quinn jumped as her phone buzzed. She opened the text from Vayne - "Come back to the cafe".

She stood up and headed back. There was no one inside and she figured that everyone was in the kitchen, having thrown the customers out with some bullshit excuse.

Quinn opened the door and was met with the gazes of everyone else.

"Hi," she said.

"I briefed everyone on your plan. We agreed we could do it. Ekko's already gone and is working on planting the letter - I'm gonna get a text as soon as he does so," Vayne said.

Everyone was there but Ekko, even Diana. Quinn figured that for someone notorious for not showing up, she sure did pay a lot of visits lately. She was afraid as to why that might be.

"I figured we could strike from our SUV's. It's not easy to hijack a tank for obvious reasons so we'd have to jump on and break in."

"How do we know when they're on their way?" Shyvana asked.

Vayne pulled up a map of the city. "I see that this is the most logical route for the tanks to take from the Avarossan to Demacia." She pointed down a wide street. "So we'd camp out here and look for signs of them. If we strike around here it's far enough for neither the Avarossan nor Demacia to suspect or spot the attack."

A round of excited chattered broke out amidst them.

Suddenly, Vayne's phone buzzed and she smiled.

"Let's go."

Quinn's heartbeat quickened and she felt sick with fear but followed them all out nonetheless. Shyvana looked back at her with a wide grin on her face.

"We're bringing down our first gang, eh?" she said.

Quinn forced out a chuckle and nodded.

They split up and got into their respective cars. Quinn got into the passenger seat and gave Vayne a weak smile when she asked if she was ready.

"Don't stress, you've done it once, you can do it again," Vayne said before slamming the gas pedal.

They drove down separate routes but met up on the same street. Jhin got out and took his place atop one of the building, lying flat on its roof and watching out for the Avarossan forces, radio in hand. Ekko met up with him and stayed behind the wheel, car parked near the side of the road.

Quinn and Vayne came to a stop hidden within the alleyway leading onto the main road, while Shyvana and Fiora were parked right underneath Jhin and Leona and Diana further on ahead. Silence overcame all of them, and they could hear their own heartbeats if they listened closely.

"I see something," Jhin's voice crackled over the radio. "There's a front-runner. A pickup truck, armed with a machine gun. Gonna take a shot at the gunner."

A moment passed before they heard the gunshot of his sniper rifle. Followed by another.

"Gunner down, driver down. Now!"

Their wheels squealed as they sprung forward, the tanks coming to a halt behind the truck that had spun out of control. From all sides, they were surrounded by the SUV's.

"Jump!" Vayne yelled and Quinn opened the door and sprang onto a tank. She hurried and yanked the trapdoor open.

Pistol in hand, she jumped in and shot as soon as she saw the driver. His body fell to the floor and she took up the controls.

"You alright?"

Quinn span round at the sound of Vayne's voice coming in.

"Yeah."

"Tank hijacked," Diana's voice came in through the radio.

"Same here," said Ekko.

"Guys that was awesome!" Yelled Shyvana, presumably from within their own tank.

"Phase one complete. Is Jhin with you yet, Ekko?" Vayne asked.

"Yeah he just came in. Ready to go."

They kept moving forward, crushing the pickup truck that blocked the road.

"Commence phase two," Vayne said over the radio.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Quinn's heart was racing with adrenaline. The uneven ride of the tank did nothing other than to upset her stomach as she tried to focus.

"400 meters," Vayne said over the radio, "Almost there."

There were a couple of replies before the line went silent. Quinn couldn't hear anything other than the sound of the tank against the tarmac.

As they approached Demacian territory, they saw the guards squint and move apart to let the tanks through, wary of the Avarossan seal. One of them had already radioed Jarvan about their arrival, which made both Quinn and Vayne uneasy. Quinn tried to keep calm, reminding herself that Sejuani had thought the plan out and that she trusted her intelligence. Though should she?

The Demacian buildings now towered over them and a couple of guards were approaching them but the tanks just kept advancing. They took no notice of their confused looks, as they didn't dare to interrupt, not having heard any response from Jarvan yet, who was undoubtedly trying to contact Ashe somehow.

"Positions," Vayne said into the radio.

Quinn and Vayne kept advancing to what Sejuani had called "the basement", while everyone else approached their respective targets. The Demacian guards radioed Jarvan more urgently, but with a swift cackle over the radio from Vayne, the tanks fired.

In an instant, Quinn jumped out and ran into the basement, having not yet fired her own tank. Vayne was left there, confused and unaware of her plans.

She rushed in and was indeed surrounded by what seemed to be a central network as Sejuani had described to her, full of wires and machinery. She shot the guard on sight, now better at withstanding the sight of blood. She dashed forward and rummaged around the room, pulling hard disks out from wherever she found them, all the time guided by Udyr in her earpiece, telling her what she was looking for.

"Quinn, there's someone behind you," his voice popped into her ear, "Hide!" He yelled, having picked up movement on the radars.

Quinn panicked, hearing the door behind her open. Hard disks in hand, her mind went blank as she found the staircase leading downwards and almost flew down the stairs. The voices of the Demacian guards above her were frantic.

"Quinn!" Vayne's voice shouted over the radio, "Quinn get out! I need to blow this damn thing!"

Quinn had no power to respond, her eyes wide at the room she found herself in. Her breath hitched and she felt her knees weaken.

In the semi-lit room, she could make out the shackled bodies. She gagged at the putrid smell and brought her hand up to cover her gaping mouth. Her earpiece rang with voices but she was deaf to everything around her. She lifted her foot in some attempt to walk away and mode note of the stickiness of the floor, but the fear of the Demacian guards outside stopped her from coming back up.

As her stomach calmed, her senses came back to her. The figures around her were groaning, barely breathing. Their limbs weak and stretched beyond recognition as they kneeled with their wrists pulled tight above their heads. The trickling of dried rotting blood was visible on their paper thing bodies as stomach acid escaped their mouths and stained their chins.

Quinn could do nothing other than stare at them, overwhelmed with her discovery. She made the mistake of meeting one of their gazes, and they looked at her longingly, as though she could save them from their torture. She didn't know what to do, and her first instinct was to run but knew she had nowhere to go. She inched forward, thinking about the possibility of unshackling them, but the smell of bodily fluids and decomposing flesh hit her harder than before and she stopped to gag.

She jumped at the sound of gunshots outside, and her mind jumped back to Vayne and the others in the midst of chaos. She was about to radio them when a figure appeared around the stairwell and grabbed her shoulder.

Her first reaction was to jerk away, gun in hand but froze when she met eyes with the figure.

Sejuani too took one quick glance around the room and winced, but quickly pulled Quinn outside. Quinn noticed the bodies at the entrance and Sejuani's smoking shotgun. She couldn't thank her, couldn't speak at all as she stumbled at Sejuani's side.

There were more dead guards outside, and the rest of the team was safe and already outside their tanks, standing amongst the rubble of the collapsed buildings.

Sejuani gave a thumbs up to Vayne and she, in turn, fired her tank, destroying what had once been "the basement".

"No!" Quinn yelled, "They're still in there!" Tears streamed down her face. Some part of her knew that the creatures chained there were long gone and that there was no hope left for whatever humanity was left in them. But she saw them, saw their rotting flesh, and now she knew they were gone.

Without intentionally meaning to, she leaned further into Sejuani's hold of her shoulders, until she buried her face in the crook of her neck, overwhelmed by a sudden burst of emotion. She sobbed silently for a few brief moments, and Sejuani didn't stop her, somehow understanding her.

"You lying bastard."

Quinn lifted her head and turned to see Leona aim her gun at them, Diana backing her up behind. She looked around and noticed Vayne coming out of her tank, her expression not any friendlier. Jhin and Ekko walked up, brandishing their own guns, while Fiora and Shyvana watched from the sidelines, absolutely dumbstruck.

Sejuani let go of Quinn and was about to ready her shotgun when Leona gestured towards it.

"Put it down, or we all shoot."

Sejuani glared at her, not liking being humiliated like this and hesitantly bent down to put her weapons on the ground. As she came back up she cocked her head to the side, considering her opposition.

There was nothing left around them but destruction. Demacia seemed to lie in ruins.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot-" Sejuani began.

"What the fuck is going on?" Vayne came up to Quinn, forcing her gaze onto her.

Quinn opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Leona.

"She's a double agent. Can't you see? I warned you and you ignored me!"

"Is this who you work for?" Vayne asked Quinn.

Quinn shook her head, to which Leona scoffed.

"How do you talk to them then, huh? Did you think I wouldn't notice? Did you think I was stupid? What were you planning to do? Kill us as well?"

"Leona please-" Quinn began, but she didn't let her finish.

"There's nothing you have to say to us anymore. You're a good for nothing liar and you're better off dead."

She cocked her gun and aimed it at Quinn.

Before she could fire, Sejuani had stepped in front of her. "You didn't let me finish," she said.

"Don't worry, I was planning to shoot you too."

"You can decide on that once you've let me finish," Sejuani added, and Vayne raised her hand to Leona and she nodded. "Look around you. Demacia's gone. Look around you again. The Winter's Claw is nowhere to be seen - I came alone. You can relax, there are no threats left to you."

They lowered their guns and listened.

"I was indeed the one behind Quinn's plans for you. I was guiding her through an earpiece that I surgically inserted into her ear in the hope that I could use her to control you and that you would weaken the other gangs for me. I never expected things to turn out the way they did. I didn't know about the alliance between Demacia and the Avarossan and I realized only too late that the task I sent you on right now was too much. This is why I'm here. I came here thinking I could protect Quinn, thinking that the Demacians would get her - and they nearly did. But it turns out I had underestimated the threats posed to her." She looked around at everyone, their gazes still on her, listening intently. "I understand your hatred for me, but Quinn had no choice in the matter. If you let her and myself go today, I can give back what I took from her and set her free."

"And what's that?" Vayne asked.

"I have her bird. He's alive and well, but he's the reason why she agreed to this madness."

"You have Valor? You monster! How could you do that?!" Shyvana yelled.

Sejuani nodded. "I understand your anger too, but if you let us go, he and Quinn will be reunited."

"So you blackmailed Quinn into working for you and now you want to blackmail us too into letting you go?" Leona asked.

"I know it sounds that way, but how else is anyone ever going to get Valor back?"

"Bullshit like this is the reason I want everyone like you dead," said Vayne. "The only reason why I wouldn't let Leona shoot you is that I'd want to do it myself." She glanced around at the others as if to confer as to what they should do. "How do we know you'll keep your word?"

"You don't. The same way Quinn never knew whether her bir- Valor - would be kept dead or alive if she did as I said. I'm afraid you're going to have to trust me."

"Why would we?" Leona asked.

"Because no matter what you may think of me, I did come here and save your asses when things went sour when I could have just called you collateral damage."

There was a murmur among them. When more Demacian guards poured around the tanks, Sejuani had run in, gun in hand, and took them down. She gave them time to come out of their tanks and take up their own guns and personally went in to save Quinn when she was trapped. Things could have gone much worse for them if it weren't for her.

"But would we have been here without you?" Jhin asked. "You merely saved us from your own doing."

She shrugged. "I understand that too. But I also understand that I nevertheless risked my own life in doing so."

"Let them go," Vayne said suddenly.

"What? Are you serious?" Leona's eyes widened. "Vayne, what's gotten into you-"

"It's no use if we kill any of them. Just let them go."

"Vayne I-" Quinn began.

"There's really nothing left to say, Quinn."

"I'm sorry," was all she could muster to say to her, but she seemed to take no notice of it.

"I know this came as a shock to you all, but I assure you we've done more good than harm," Sejuani added before walking away. Quinn promptly followed, looking back at Fiora and Shyvana whose gazes were still full of confusion.

Quinn and Sejuani hadn't said a word to each other as they rounded the corner and headed down a narrow street. Here, they took Sejuani's car and planned to head back to her headquarters. Once behind the wheel, Sejuani looked across at Quinn in the passenger seat, searching for something to say. Quinn's gaze was fixed on her feet and Sejuani realized that there was nothing of use that she could say.

* * *

Once they were out of earshot, Ekko turned to the others.

"I know we're all shocked and mad, but maybe Sejuani had a point?"

Leona glared at him. "And what about her made you think that?"

"Well, she said we did more good than harm. In the long run, didn't we? We brought down a major gang."

No one said anything as they stared at their crumpled surroundings.

"Cait would have been proud of this," Ekko added.

"Cait's dead because of _her!"_ Diana said.

Ekko nodded. "But at the end of the day, we chose to go forward with that plan, as well as this one. Maybe it was Quinn who was controlled by Sejauni but we weren't. We made the decision and we assumed the risk. At least that's how I'm gonna think about it." He started walking back towards their cars, eager to get back home.

In his mind, Cait was as proud of them as he was.

"We should really get going," Vayne said and they all followed Ekko.

"What's gonna happen to Quinn now?" Shyvana asked.

The truth was that no one knew. As much as they wanted to have a plan as to what they were going to do next, they didn't.

"I'm mad that no one listened to me," Leona added.

"None of us could have known," said Vayne.

"I did! And you ignored me!"

"You're right. I'm sorry." Vayne pondered for a few moments, but couldn't find a logical solution to where her thoughts led her.

* * *

They reached the headquarters and Sejuani led Quinn inside. She spoke with the woman the reception before taking Quinn into the elevator and bringing her to the top floor.

"I thought you'd give Valor back to me."

"I will. I promise. But first, just let me make something right."

Quinn was taken aback by what she heard. She was led into the conference room and stopped when she saw Sejuani open the steel door that she dreaded.

"It's not what you think. Please follow me."

Sejuani's gaze seemed almost pleading and Quinn followed her, trusting her more this time. She motioned towards the chair and Quinn hesitantly sat down.

"I have anesthetic this time. It won't hurt." She picked up a syringe and showed it to Quinn, making sure she knew what was going on. She carried on once Quinn nodded, administering it carefully.

She waited a few moments for it to take effect before touching her ear.

"You feel that?" she asked.

Quinn shook her head so Sejuani continued. She picked up her scalped and made a slow and thin incision along the inside of her ear. With a pair of tweezers, she pulled out the chip and placed it down on the table next to her before sewing the cut neatly back up. She dabbed her ear with some cotton dipped in alcohol to wipe away the blood and make sure the wound is clean.

She told Quinn to hold the cotton there until it stops bleeding.

She picked up the microchip and Quinn watched as she dropped it down the sink before washing her hands.

Quinn couldn't understand her sudden change of character and Sejuani must have noticed her confusion.

"It's the least I can do now," she said. "I realized only too late."

"That can't be it. You don't turn into a benefactress overnight."

Sejuani sighed. "I know what you saw."

"You knew they were doing that?"

"Not to that extent."

Quinn closed her eyes and shivered as the images flashed before her eyes again. Sejuani placed a hand on her shoulder and she calmed down slightly.

"I also know that I put your life in more danger than I should have. And that I split you from your friends." Sejuani cast her glance to the ground. Quinn realized that it was taking a lot for her to admit her mistakes and was surprised at what she was saying.

"You did save my life though. Thanks."

"I know you can't forgive me for putting you in this situation, and believe me when I say that I can't forgive myself either."

There was a short silence between them.

"It'll get better," Quinn said finally.

"You think?"

"What, you don't have another plan?"

Sejuani shook her head. "Things didn't go quite as I initially planned."

"You didn't expect to be nearly shot at I guess."

"No. I didn't expect to realize how wrong I was."

Quinn looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?"

"It all seemed so perfect. I could have used Vayne's group to weaken all the gangs and I could have taken over the city in no time. But I was so wrong."

"We did weaken them though, and we took Demacia dow-"

"I realize how wrong I was to hurt you like I did. You never deserved it. You never even had a place in any of this."

She started heading out but Quinn grabbed her arm before she could disappear.

"It's too late now. Give me back Valor and maybe we can still end the war."

Sejuani raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"I never had a place in any of this but I do now. Might as well make it count. I've always wanted to see this war end, but you won't like it."

"You want to get rid of all the mafia, don't you?"

"Isn't that what we all want, Sejuani?"

She shook her head. "I dedicated my life to taking this city."

"And I want to dedicate mine to making it whole again. You said you could never forgive yourself for what you did, so why not do something right for once?"

She genuinely seemed to consider her point for a brief moment, but she shook her head again.

"I can't lose everything I've gained thus far."

Quinn sighed, knowing she wouldn't get anywhere with this. Sejuani noticed her defeat and knew the conversation was over. She held her arm out and Quinn took it as she helped her off the chair, not that she needed it. She threw the piece of cotton in the bin.

"So I suppose this is the last time I see you," Quinn added as she followed Sejuani back into the conference room.

Sejuani said nothing for a moment but appeared to clench her jaw. Her gaze seemed thoughtful as she stared out the windows onto the streets below them. When she looked back at Quinn it was as though a piece of her strength was lost.

"I'm afraid so."

Quinn nodded, thinning her lips into a line.

"I'll go get Valor. Wait here a moment."

Sejuani disappeared through the door and Quinn listened intently as her footsteps diminished down the corridor.

She shifted her weight from foot to foot as she stared into space. A part of her was relieved that she would end all ties with the mafia and get Valor back. God was she relived to see Valor again. But simultaneously, was part of her somewhat disappointed to have come to the end of the ties with the Winter's Claw? Probably not. With Sejuani on the other hand? Perhaps. Maybe more so than she wanted to admit, as ridiculous as it seemed.

The door swung open and Quinn looked up immediately at a familiar caw.

"Valor!" She shouted and ran up to him, who stood perched on Sejuani's arm.

He hopped on her hand and nudged her cheek excitedly.

"Oh God, I'm so glad you're fine!" Quinn said as she ran her hand over his feathers.

Sejuani studied the two of them for a moment before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a badge of two crossed axes. She cleared her throat and Quinn was paying attention to her again.

"As you'll no longer work with us," she started, "you'll become just another citizen. The war's far from over and no one's safe from anyone but-" She handed her the badge, "Keep this with you. If you ever run into my soldiers, don't fear them. Show them the badge if they're troubling you and they'll know you're an ally. It's the least I can do to keep you safe I guess."

Quinn studied the shiny piece of metal for a moment before pocketing it and thanking her.

Soon, Sejuani showed Quinn out and drove her back into the city. With a goodbye, Quinn got out of her car and watched her drive away.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

* * *

Fiora and Shyvana studied the door for a moment, both thinking they must have heard someone knock. Their thoughts logically jumped to Quinn and Shyvana jumped up to answer. The sound of Valor's caws as she cracked the door open put a smile on her face and she let them in without a second thought. Fiora too stood up and watched the three of them from the living room where she and Shyvana had been sitting.

They didn't say anything for a moment as Valor made himself at home again. Maybe for a brief moment, they may have thought that everything was back to normal, that maybe they'd imagined the past weeks and that they could head downtown for a coffee again. Their smiles turned somber, and the harsh truth kicked in.

"I'm glad you're both fine," Shyvana said.

Quinn nodded as her eyes filled with tears. "You have no idea how sorry I am."

Shyvana wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Fiora too made her way over to them. They gathered around Quinn, and their hugs seemed to be a way of saying they forgive her.

Fiora disappeared into the kitchen and to get something for Quinn to eat while Shyvana sat her down on the couch, arm still around her shoulders.

"Did she hurt you?" she asked.

Quinn sighed. "The earpiece is out. She took it out. But she didn't hurt me this time."

"You had an earpiece in then?"

"Yeah. It's how she- they - spoke to me, and tracked me. I had no choice, Shyv, I really didn't."

"I know."

Fiora came back and put down a plate of sandwiches on the coffee table in front of them. Quinn thanked her and picked one up to nibble on, realizing she was starving.

"Vayne might want to speak to you too," Fiora said.

Quinn shook her head. "I don't think she can ever look at me again."

"Nonsense. She'll have to understand."

"Did you see the way they looked at me? They were ready to kill me."

"Leona and Diana may have been but-"

"No, Fi. It's no use."

They sat in silence for a while before Fiora said she was heading out to get groceries. Even the sound of the door closing seemed deafening so Quinn excused herself, going into her room and crashing down on her bed.

She buried her face in the pillows and sighed. She only looked up when she heard a hesitant caw and saw Valor watching her from the door. She forced a smile and he flew over to her, nudging her cheek with his beak.

"I'm glad you're back, Valor."

And his pleased caws told her that he was too.

* * *

Fiora was indeed on her way to get groceries, but her mind wandered elsewhere as she sat behind the steering wheel. She had never been one to show her emotions, but there was no doubt she cared about Quinn enough to try and make things right. She hadn't known Vayne all that well, but when she pulled up outside the Ekko's cafe she hoped that it would be enough for what she was about to do.

The cafe was empty and the door was locked. There were no lights inside but Fiora knocked anyway. After a short delay, there was a click and the door opened.

Leona crossed her arms but moved to one side to let her in. Fiora stepped inside hesitantly, asking if Vayne was around.

Leona nodded towards the kitchen and followed her through the doors. In the kitchen, Vayne and Diana were sitting down looking over the blueprints that Quinn had given them before the mission, as though unable to understand how they could fall for it.

"Hi, Fiora," Vayne said as she walked through the door, not looking up from the papers.

"Bonjour, Vayne. You have a minute?"

"If this is about Quinn then I've already gone through everything I wanted to know."

Fiora paused and thought carefully about how she was going to proceed.

"If you think she's the enemy, then you definitely haven't gone through the half of it."

Vayne rubbed her eyes. "Maybe I'm too tired for this now."

Fiora turned to Leona. "I know you don't mean half of the anger you had for her either. I know you're smarter than that, n'est pas?"

Leona said nothing but didn't take her eyes off Fiora.

"Where's Ekko and Jhin?" Fiora asked.

"Home. Resting. Like I should be," Vayne answered.

"I know you're tired. We all are. But the war doesn't end here and we're getting closer than ever."

"Where is this "we" coming from?" Diana butted in. "Less than a month ago you didn't even know who we were."

"I do now, and I've held my ground with you guys for the time I've been here like everyone else has. I helped you guys. Shyvana helped you guys. And I know you hate to think of this now but Quinn helped one hell of a lot, no matter who was behind her actions."

"She put us all in danger," Leona said.

Fiora nodded. "But we were always in danger."

There was a short silence and Fiora could feel her own heartbeat quicken.

"How can we trust Quinn again?" Vayne broke the silence.

"Her earpiece is gone. Valor's back. She has no one to control her anymore. If you don't believe that then..." They all looked at her expectantly. "Then I guess it's just another risk you have to take in your line of duty because God knows you can't afford to lose allies."

Vayna sighed again. "Thank you for coming, Fiora. I don't have the energy to think about this now."

She got up and left without another word.

"We should lock up," Diana said and put an arm around Leona's shoulder as they headed out, waiting for Fiora to follow so they can lock the door behind her.

Fiora walked back to her car disheartened, feeling as though she hadn't achieved anything.

* * *

Leona checked the front door one last time to make sure it was locked before following Diana down the road. She raised an eyebrow when Diana's hand took a hold of hers, realizing that they hadn't had any alone time in a long while.

"The moon looks nice tonight, Diana," Leona said, inching closer to her as they walked.

Diana cast a glance upwards and smiled, cherishing the light of the full moon overhead. She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to.

"Maybe one day the war'll be over and we can get away for some time. No more death, just you and me. And maybe a beach."

Diana chuckled. "No way are you dragging me to a beach."

"Why not? It's fun."

"It's too hot and the sand gets stuck between your toes. And I don't like swimsuits."

"That's a shame. You always looked stunning in one."

Diana looked away to hide a slight blush.

When the reached her car, Diana opened the passenger door for Leona before getting into the driver's seat. Her girlfriend leaned over and pecked her cheek before they drove away.

* * *

The morning news was chaotic. The disappearance of Demacia sparked excitement and hope all over the city, and journalists started speculating about the end of the war. There were reports and articles in every newspaper about Vayne's team, and every news channel had tried to contact her, but all had failed. There was a new type of euphoria coursing through the streets, and people were more lively again.

Nothing lasted. It was only a matter of time until they were reminded that the mafia gangs still remain and are as powerful as ever.

Vayne also seemed to be back to her usual self and had rung Shyvana and Fiora to check whether they were coming to their meeting that morning. Both of them had given her the same answer - without Quinn, they weren't budging.

After a couple of hours of inactivity, it had become obvious to Vayne that she either accepted Quinn back onto the team, or she lost not one but three of her members.

She met up with the others in the cafe and went over the message she received from Shyvana and Fiora with them.

They sat in silence for a while before Ekko spoke up.

"I already shared my thoughts on this so I don't know why you guys still want me here." Noticing the blank faces around him, he felt compelled to continue. "Quinn lied to us, but I'm excited as fuck to see that Demacia's gone and Cait would be too." With that, he excused himself and went back out the kitchen and greeted his customers.

Leona took this as her cue to start baking some goodies and left the others to their own thoughts.

Vayne looked at Diana as though asking for her take on things but she just shrugged. They sat there for a while longer until Jhin broke the silence.

"The only mistake we could make is to make the same mistake twice," he said.

Vayne nodded. "So you say we don't take her back. We can't make the mistake of trusting her again."

But Jhin shook his head. "That's not what I was referring to. The mistake would be to lose a friend. We lost one, we can't lose another."

They stared at him for a moment, before he, too, gathered his things and made his way outside. They heard Ekko hiss at him for scaring the customers with his creepy mask but it was likely that he paid no heed to the comment.

"I'm ringing them to invite them to the meeting," Vayne announced and looked around at Diana and Leona, as though asking if she's doing the right thing. None of them said anything and she just threw her head back in defeat. "Guys please say something."

Leona looked up from the dough she was kneading. "I could tell there was something fishy going on the first time, so I don't doubt that I'd spot it a second time. Just listen to me this time round, ok?"

Vayne nodded and picked up her phone. She was about to call in the meeting again.

* * *

Quinn jumped awake at the sound of her phone ringing. She fumbled for it before dropping it and throwing out some curse words. She picked it up in the end and answered, her voice full of sleep.

"Hello?"

"Quinn? It's Vayne. We're holding a meeting to discuss what to do next. Come to the cafe."

Quinn suddenly felt awake. "I'm on my way."

She got dressed as fast as she could and grabbed a banana on her way out. She said goodbye to Valor and dragged Shyvana and Fiora along with her. She was brimming with excitement.

* * *

Sejuani had declared that she needed a few days off to think about their next moves and so Udyr was now in charge of running operations for the rest of the week. She had no doubt in him and he had always been the first whom she'd ask for help. If anything, she had talked to him about more things than she had with anyone and she was grateful for it.

She sat alone in her room at the headquarters. It was nothing fancy but served its purpose. The walls were lined with tapestry and the Winter's Claw's insignia, as well as some guns which hung on their racks here and there. Other than that, there was nothing more than a bed, a wardrobe and a desk of polished mahogany and an ensuite.

The leader had decided that the multitude of thoughts running through her head were too much to deal with, so she stood up and changed into a t-shirt and shorts and headed out to the gym on the same floor of the building. She was pretty much alone in there at this time of the day, everyone else having been called in for briefing. She cherished the quiet and worked out for an hour, pushing herself more than usual, feeling as though the heavier the weight she lifted, the more it cleared her head.

She was wrong, and as she headed back to her quarters to shower, she felt just as uneasy as she had when she left. She stepped into the ensuite, taking her clothes off and throwing them onto the floor before stepping into the shower. She let the cold water run down her muscled body but she paid little attention to it.

Suddenly, she remembered.

She finished her shower and dried herself quickly, hurrying back to her desk. She booted up her computer, forgetting about getting dressed, to check whether her plan was working. Sure enough, as she loaded the program, she found that it was.

A pang of guilt was coursing through her veins, but she reassured herself that she was doing the right thing.

* * *

 _ **Note**_

 _Sorry for jumping around so much with POVs this chapter_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter IX

* * *

"The Winter's Claw?"

"No. It was Vayne."

Ashe frowned. She let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed her hands over her face. Stray locks of hair fell over her eyes but she didn't care anymore.

"Who received Jarvan's call?"

Tryndamere shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking down at Ashe sitting at her desk. He hesitated briefly before answering, "Gragas."

"I want to speak to him."

He nodded and headed out. Before long, a large man stepped in, the button on his suit holding on by just a thread.

"Sit down," Ashe said calmly and he took a chair opposite her. "What did Jarvan say when he radioed you?"

He cleared his throat. "He said our tanks were coming in and that he hadn't agreed to this. He was angry and his voice crackled over the radio and I couldn't understand everyth-"

"And what did you do?"

He swallowed hard. "I told him we did as he asked."

"And how did he respond?"

"There was silence over the radio for a moment and I waited for his message to come through. Then there were voices. Then he yelled that we order them to retreat."

"Did you?"

"Of course. I tried to get through to the soldiers we sent but their radio must have died. They didn't reply, but I assumed the message got through anyway and-"

Ashe's hands came down onto the table with a loud bang. "You assumed?! They didn't reply and yet they somehow must have heard you?"

"Ashe I-"

"You compromised a whole alliance is what you did, Gragas. And the lives of so many."

The man avoided her gaze and took a deep breath. "I didn't know what else to do."

"Did you tell anyone else? Who did you inform straight away?"

"I got the sergeant on duty to tell General Tryndamere and-"

"When was this?"

"When Jarvan's line went silent."

Ashe nodded. "That was too late."

Gragas agreed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. It won't happen again."

"I can assure you it won't." He let out a sigh of relief and got up to go.

"Take him."

"What?" He whipped round in time to see the two men grab him. He writhed against their grip but they restrained him and placed him in cuffs. "What's going on? Ashe? Ashe!"

"That'll teach you for working while drunk. Drown him in the cellar."

Gragas was dragged out and forced into the elevator where he was tasered and collapsed to the ground. His breathing was desperate and he begged the guards to let him go. He tried to bargain with them but they were emotionless behind their black suits. Finally, he was dragged out onto the cold stone floor of the cellar and brought to a torture room.

Ironically, he had been here many times. The smell of the wine he had down here as he was carrying out his orders still reeked and he closed his eyes and wept silently. The screams of all the people he killed and tortured were about to become his own.

Tryndamere appeared. He caught a glance of him enough to notice him putting a pair of black leather gloves on and lifting a bandana over his mouth and nose against the smell. He didn't say anything as he chained Gragas to the shackles on the wall, his arms pulled taut above his head as he kneeled on the ground. His torso hung down, defeated and his red hair fell over his face to hide his shame.

"To hell with you," Tryndamere whispered as he poured a keg of wine over Gragas' head.

The shackled man shook his head and spat out some of the wine that made its way onto his face. Tryndamere wasn't pleased with the way it was going.

"Hold his face up," he said to the two guards and they grabbed Gragas' hair and held his neck craned upwards. He winced and gasped from under his wine drenched beard.

Tryndamere forced him to drink from another keg, forcing the wine down his throat. Gragas gulped desperately in an attempt not to choke when Tryndamere threw the keg to the ground and grabbed his throat. He tightened his grip around his pulsing neck, watching his face redden and his eyes open wide. He tried to choke and gasp and his chest rocked violently.

Tryndamere let go. A grin was making its way onto his face.

Gragas coughed up drops of wine before gasping for air.

The General grabbed one last keg and lifted it up for Gragas to see.

"You'll like this one."

He jammed the opening between his jaws again and forced him to drink. After the first mouthful, Gragas writhed once more and attempted to scream from beneath the liquid and his pried open mouth, but only muffled, pathetic groans came out. He began to froth at the mouth as he felt his throat burn until the corroding substance leaked into his lungs. He felt it burn his chest.

Blood now escaped his lips as the acid ate its way through his mouth.

Satisfied, Tryndamere let the keg drop and watched Gragas gurgle up his own blood as he struggled to breathe.

"Rot in hell," the General said, before leaving him to die alone. The guards followed him out, and they never even bothered to clear the corpse away, leaving the froth-corrupted man to lie lifeless in his shackles.

* * *

Quinn burst into the kitchen of Ekko's cafe. All heads turned towards her and no one said anything for a moment until Shyvana and Fiora also joined them.

"So what's the plan?" Shyvana asked excitedly.

She made herself comfortable on a stool and helped herself to a cinnamon bun, which no one minded.

Vayne sighed. "Well there's obviously been an interesting turn of events." Her gaze never left Quinn, making her cheeks burn. "But we hope to get back on track as soon as we can and move on to the next phase."

"Unless, of course, Quinn has another plan she wants to show us?" Leona added.

Fiora glared at her momentarily.

Quinn cleared her throat. "I have nothing, my earpiece is gone and all ties to-"

"We know. Fiora told us. You don't have to explain yourself anymore." Vayne picked up a stack of papers that she had in front of her on the table and handed them out.

"I think the next obvious target is securing key supply points before Noxus gets to them. With the death of Demacia they're sure to want to scavenge whatever they can."

"Wait," Diana began, "You mean to tell me that after everything we did, our next step is to just steal pointless shit?"

"Well actually, it's worth a lot of money and if-"

"That's bullshit. We need to keep fighting."

"Diana, please-"

"Here's what I think we should be doing instead - set up traps around key points and take hostages so we can find out the best way to infiltrate Noxus."

"I'm not taking prisoners, Diana."

"Guys," Ekko interrupted them, "I also think you should know something first." They all looked at him expectantly as he seemed to be searching for the right words to continue. "Someone got in touch with me a couple hours ago. She said she heard what we did and she's been questioning her stance on everything ever since... well you know, ever since Cait's death and-"

"Who is it, Ekko?" Vayne butted in.

"It's Vi."

There was a period of silence as they looked at each other, piecing the information together. Diana broke the silence as she burst out laughing.

"You're kidding," she said. "She finally got in touch after all these years of doing jackshit?"

Ekko straightened up. "She wasn't doing jackshit."

"Bullshit. She's been sitting on her ass all along and now she wants to get in touch when things are actually taking off."

"That's not true Diana. She's been giving us ammo and weapons and-"

"And sitting on her ass."

"She had a job to keep."

Diana rolled her eyes. "So did Cait. Until she realized there were more important things to be fighting for."

Ekko looked away defeated.

"We don't get to judge the decisions others make," Jhin said. "Our mistakes are not shackles, but scripts that can be scrapped and rewritten."

"Anyway, what did she say?" Vayne asked.

"She said the police have caught an interesting trail, and they wanted our help with it. She wants us to team up with them."

"And what trail are we talking about?"

"She couldn't say. Classified police business or something. But if we were to agree on her deal we'd get in on it. She said it was a good chance it would move us forward. I think it's the best we have at the moment unless you guys want to go back to calling dibs on old storehouses."

"I need time to think it over," Vayne replied.

"I said I'd get back to her as soon as I can."

Vayne sighed. "Fine. Call her and say we're in."

Ekko nodded and went outside to make the phone call.

* * *

Vi's cell phone buzzed in her pocket and she set down her doughnut to answer it, her feet up on her desk. She didn't take her eyes away from her computer screen.

"Hello, Officer Vi speaking."

"It's me."

"Ah good, you remembered me."

"Vayne agreed to your deal. Now tell us what you got."

"You sitting down?"

"I'm good."

She chuckled. "Your call. You ever done drugs?"

Ekko frowned. "No? What the-"

"Good because we have some solid leads into the current wave of drugs going around the city and-"

"So all you're doing is hunting down druggies? This won't help anyone."

"No, you dumbass. Lemme finish. The Frostguard developed a pharmaceutical sector. They're pumping drugs out around the city and the results are terrifying. They're... transforming people."

"Bullshit. I ain't ever seen no mutant round here."

"Look harder. Sightings are coming in from the North. We don't know what they're doing to people but they're... monstrous. I've emailed you some photos we have of the sightings."

"What's our job?"

"I'm deploying a team to investigate the Frostguard. I need all of you on it."

"I'll let Vayne know immediately."

Ekko hung up and checked his emails. He was frustrated at the lack of information he got and at the fact that he didn't think it was helping them get any closer to bringing the mafia down. He logged in and sure enough, there was a new email from Vi. He opened the attachment.

His eyes widened and he felt his throat tighten. He locked his phone and headed back into the kitchen to tell the others, the image of the drugged man ingrained into the back of his mind. He felt sick and his stomach burnt.

He told the others. Quinn's thoughts jumped back to what she saw in the basement of Demacia as soon as she laid eyes on the photo. She rushed into the bathroom and threw up, both with disgust and fear.

* * *

What's our next plan, Sejuani?" Udyr asked.

Udyr, Volibear, Olaf, and Sejuani were gathered in the conference once more, seated around the table with Sejuani at its end.

All operations and plans had been put on hold while Sejuani had withdrawn from the others. "She's just angry that our plan with Quinn didn't work out." Udyr had told the others, though that's not what he was told to say. No one was told anything, but Udyr knew better than to let them make their own assumptions, so he made sure they had a clear reason for Sejuani's disappearance. "It would be a bad idea to come up with anything while she's still fuming with rage." He kept telling them, and they believed him thankfully.

He had gone to see her to bring her something to eat and to make sure she was ok. He knew that she didn't want to talk but he saw right through her. He squeezed her shoulder and gave her the time she needed. He would talk to her when she felt ready for it.

"The Avarossan surely took a blow after Demacia's fall. They won't be back on the radar for some time now," Sejuani began. "That means only one thing to us."

"We turn our attention to the Frostguard," Volibear chimed in.

"Exactly. It won't be easy, we'd have to send scouts further North to gather the information we need. I want one of you to lead a team of them. I want to know what they've gained since we last tangled with them."

"I'll do it," Olaf offered.

Sejuani nodded. "I'll get the equipment you need ready. That will be all for now."

Olaf and Volibear looked at each other for a moment, obviously expecting the meeting to be more productive, but Sejuani had already packed up and headed towards the door. Udyr followed her and shortly they were out of sight.

Sejuani stepped into the elevator and Udyr hurried in after her.

As the doors closed he turned to face her. "You alright?"

She kept her gaze on the doors. "I'm fine. I don't know why you'd think otherwise. It was only a minor setback." Her face didn't show any emotion.

Udyr frowned. "We've had bigger setbacks than that and this has never happened."

"I was busy thinking."

"And yet you didn't come up with much for this meeting."

The doors opened and led onto the ground floor. "I'm not done thinking."

She stepped out and headed outside, but Udyr followed her into the cold. "Would you like any help?" he asked.

She stopped suddenly and turned to look at him. "What?"

He hesitated. "Help. I asked if you needed help."

Her face darkened. "What makes you think I do?" Her voice was lower and Udyr could sense she was moments away from yelling, but he smiled.

"That's the Sejuani I know. I'm glad she's back."

She smiled back, now at ease that he wasn't suspicious of her.

Truly, he just wasn't letting his suspicions show any more.


End file.
